The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1888-02-09
How Drought BENEFITS the Soil.

A correspondent of the Scotsman
writes:-''Dry and hot! hot and dry!
How much everything suffers for the
want of rain" exclaims the farmer, as
the empty clouds melt day after day
| from his sight. And it is a sad sight
now presented in many places in the
country. We need not recall it for
our readers; we would rather invite
them to brighter side of the picture.
That seasons of drought, so often oc-
| curing, and so injurious to our sum-
mer crops, should still prove beneficial
to the soil seems strange. but chemical
science shows us that droughts are one
Of the material causes to restore the
constituents of crops, and renovate
| Ong-cultivated soils. The why and
wherefore of this we may here repro
duce, condensed from paper by Pro-
| feSsOr Higgins, chemist of the State
Agricultural Society of Maryland. The
loss of mineral matter from the soil re-
suits from the fact that it is taken up
| by the growing crops, and also carried
away by the surface water flowing into
streams, and thence into the sea.
| These two causes are always in opera
| ton, and were there no sources of sup
ply would in time render the earth a
barren waste.
The diminution which arises from
| continual cropping is in part restored
| by manureS, and the same is true of
| the constituents washed from the soil
by surface drainage. But this supply
| is small, uncertain, and of limited ap-
plication, and Providence has provided
natural means to restore lost mineral
constituents to our arabic land. At
/ intervals drOughtS occur to bring up
| from the deeper under soil food for
the use of plants, when the rains shall
again fall to dissolve and bring them
into action. A drought acts upon the
moisture in the earth as follows
During dry weather a continual eva
poration takes place from the surface
soil above that supplied by rain and
dew, which creates vacuum $50 far
as the water in the surface soil is con-
cerned) that is at once filled by water
rising from the sub-soil-extending
| deeper and deeper as the drought con-
t1nues and the moisture is eXhaled-a
/ circulation of water in the earth the
reverse of that which takes place in
wet weather. This progress to the
surface of the water in the earth mani
| tests itself strikingly in the drying up
Of springs and wells which are supper
ted by springs. Not only is water
thus brought to the surface of the
earth, but also all that the water holds
in solution. These are salts of lime
and magnesia, of potash and soda, or.
indeed, whatever the sub-soil or top
strata of the earth may contain.
The water on reaching the surface is
| evaporated, but leaves behind its lime
and potash, its phoSphates, silicates.
carbOnates, and salts, all indispensable
to the growth of the vegetable pro-
| ducts of the farm. Rain water as it
falls will dissolve but very small por-
| ton of some of these substances, but
when it sinks into the earth, it then
becomes strongly imbued with carbOnic
| acid from the accommodation of veg
| etable matter from the soil, and this
| acquires the property Of readily dis
solving minerals on which before it
could have but little effect Several
experiments tried by Professor Hig-
gins go to show this action of drought
In bringing mineral matters from a
depth to the surface of the soil. In
one case he placed solution lchloride
of barium) in the bottom of a glass
cylinder and then filed it with dry soil.
After long exposure to the rays of the
sun the surface of the soil was tested
with sulphuric acid aAd gave a cOpious
precIpltate of sulphate of baryta.
Chloride OF lime, Sulphate of soda, and
carbonate of potash were experiment
ted upon in like manner, and upon the
application of proper tests the surface
of the soil showed their presence in
large quantities, drawn up by the ris-
ing of water underneath, as in the case
of drought. The parched earth. an
vegetation dwarfed and withered big
the heat, seems suffering under a curse.
but it Is only an affection for the pre-
sent-'a blessing in Disguise for the
future. The early and later rain