Evening star., 1933-02-16

One thing snow does which is not
commonly considered Is the outlining of
branches Of vines on a garden fence.
Fences themselves take on new as
poets Of beauty under the influence Of
the spreading whiteness, but part Of
this beauty is due to the vines, as little
credit as they get for it.
Climbing roses, with their sprawling
boughs interlaced with the fencing, be-
come things Of beauty again.
Not long from now they will become
more permanently beautiful, but for the
present they reflect a sort of secondary
loveliness in the snow.
There Is great deal of plain Crouch
ing done over snow, but the way to get
around all that is to be a gardener,
even if q poor one, and to consider
every snow under two heads:
l. What it does for the garden.
2. What 1t does to the garden.
There has always been a legend that
things horticultural like nothing quite
so much as a good deep snow.
Sentiment has combined with prac-
ticability to teach children that the
snow spreads a warm blanket" over
the plants, covering which they love
and which helps keep them warm.
Part Of this Is nonsense, of course.
Plants, like certain fresh-water fishes
may be said to be cold blooded" They
do not need food to keep up their body
temperature, but the colder it gets the
less sustenance they need. In very cold
weather indeed they are practically
dormant.
Nevertheless, there Is real good in
every snowfall for the vegetative world.
The amount Of water put into the
ground at this time, through such
SHOWS as have visited these parts this
Winter, is far from negligible. Not
only does it do the plants good at this
time, especially evergreens, but it re-
plenishes the so-called water table"
deep down in the soil
A great many people do not realize
how necessary water is to plant health,
both in the growing and in the dor
mant stages. Even If no growth is
visible, certain vital processes are going
on. Little food is needed, but the wa
ter is needed. There Is a great deal
of difference.
Every one realizes that man can get
along many days, even weeks, without
food, but only a comparatively short
IuIlc WlIilOuI any uQulQ at aL.
Plants have more tolerance than man
in this vital respect, but nevertheless
they demand some water the year
around in the majority of cases.
Fortunately Nature takes care of this
important detail in a normal season.
Rain Is spaced "just right" for most
things.
Normal rainfall-and this must in
clude SnoW-tends to keen constant tho
alternate actions of freezing and thaw-
Ing Much Of this goes on in the pres
ence OF water, as life goes on in water
Water is an essential to plants.
1t helps keep up the constant crum-
bling process so essential to the amelio-
ration Of the soil, that good breaking
down OF large particles into small par
ticles, and of these in turn into still
smaller particles, until at last the earth
Is reduced to the exact consistency
which plant roots prefer.
Heaven and earth work for the plant
roots, although nothing in the entire
process, except man, seems to have any
knowledge Of the process. Or has it?
1t may be that every particle of soil,
crunlbling beneath the influence of the
seasons, has an active intelligence In 1t.
not the same as our intelligence, vastly
different, but intelligence just the same
and quite as intelligent in its way.
What snow does for the garden Is no
more important, In a sense, than what
1t does to a garden. In this latter
action Is included Identification, that