The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-15
Cold weather and Fertility.

1t is not an accidental fact that the
greatest development and success of farm
ing has, in modern times, at least, been
found in temperate climates with fire.
quent alterations of heat and cold. says
the American Cultivator In such eli
mates man had TO learn very early to
house and protect himself from the cold.
After he had done this he had to provide
similar housing and protection for the an
imals required for his subsistence. This
enabled him to feed them regularly and to
use with better advantage the excrement
they dropped Among all northern far
merS the size and character of the manure
heap have always been regarded as the
best tests of successful farming 1t has
been commonly supposed that the greater
facilities for collecting manure which win
ter stabling of domestic animals made
possible had most to do in making land
fertile: No doubt this has something to do
causes back of this, and that the deep
freezing of soil which is possible in the
north has much to do with making and
keeping it more fertile.
In all soils that contain clay, as all the
most fertile soils do, the constant tenden-
cy as cultivation lessons vegetable matter
is to make the soil more
compact and lessen its power to alb
sorb and hold water. The great complaint
of southern farmers on heavy soils is that
after few years the mould is used up
and the clay is puddled in wet weather. If
il is tramped at this time the soil does not
recover for years. If the clay is on A
side hill it gulies badly. But where cold
weather freezes the soil deeply, the water
sinks down through the clay, and is stor-
ed in those underground reservoirs which
in temperate climates diminish the effects
of long-continued dry weather. In short
the northern farmer by the aid of frost
has made for him every year soil as deep
as the frost extends. The southern farmer
lacking the cold weather has to work in
a dry soil except as he deepens At by his
own efforts.
1t was long believed in the south that
red clover could not be grown there, as
successive trials on poor soil saw IL fail
from lack of moisture. The trouble prob
ably was that the soil lacked the depth
the clover roots required to enable them
to protect themselves during dry weather
When, by means of extra cultivation,
crop of clover has once been grown, it is
compa ratiYely easy to get a clover growth,
each succeeding one extending its roots
deeper, uPtSl the soil is deepened as far
as clover roots go in our northern climes.
What the clover plant does by slow de-
grees is done In single northern winter
when the soil freezes deeply.
No doubt this deep freezing breaks and
destroys some roots but this does not de-
crease soil fertility, but rather increases
il, as the broken-off roots decompose ana
furnish material for new growth. EX-
cept in crops whose tap root is broken Ivy
freezing, thus breaking off of some parts
of the root rarely does much injury. 1t
is probable that on most perennial plants
and trees almost all of the feeding roots
perish as the leaves fail, and the plant
goes into its semi-dormant condition for
winter. These feeding roots are renewed
when warm weather comes, with much
greater vigOr than the previous year This
is far preferable TO having the feeding
roots continue unchanged from year 20
year but with lessened Vigor. 1t helps
explain why 1t is that fruits and other
crops attain their greatest perfection near
the nor .hArr limit of their growth
1t is commonly noted by farmers that
after a severe winter. when there has been
deep freezing of the soil. followed by
heavy snowfall. a prosperous crop year
is very apt to follow. The deep freezing
opens the soil clods, enabling air to per-
meate them. In this disintegration of
soil. it's mineral plant food is made avail
able just as 1t is by cultivation. Wherever
frost penetrates II pulverizes soil, with
out cost to the farmer, besides being done
better than Is possible where frost has
not prepared it for mans pulverizng i'm
plements. But as this makes the soil
more liable TO be washed and blown
away in winter, IL is economy of fertility
wherever deep freezing is certain, TO have
the blowing and cultivation done in spring
rather than in the fall. In localities
where the freezing IS only slight, and not
long continued, nnd Is fall-plowed. so as
to expose 20 freezing as great surface
one Of the effects of continued coldbs to
dry the surface soil exposed TO II. The
soil first expands as the water In Il
freezes. thus allowing air 10 circulate
be exposed to air than when il was I'M
frozen. Except where water is stagnant
from lack of drainage, the points OF soil
above the general will be found IN spring
reduced TO fine powder, making. when
spread over the surface, the best possible
seed bed. not merely for grass and clover
seed. but for spring grains also. II Is
on fali-plowed wheat land cultivated in
spring, that spring wheat must he sown
to make a good crop. II Is all the better
II freeze-up comes after the grain Is in
the ground. This pulverlzes and loosens
the soil TO the depth It Is cultivated
Then. when warm weather comes the
grain grows much more vigorously than
Ii does on ground that Is spring-plowed
and the surface fine filth made by freez-
ing Is turned TO the bottom of the firrow
Horse Radish.