12 



other and stronger reasons for tlie use of the drill will be given in their proper 

 place. 



2. Several correspondents refer to the fact that the freezing of last winter of 

 the wheat roots was not of the usual character generally, the freezing out as it 

 is called, but was the freezing in, that is, the roots were destroyed whilst yet in 

 the ground, and had not been first heaved out. It is proper, therefore, that these 

 differences should be clearly understood, so that the relative advantages of drilled 

 and broadcast sowing may be more certainly seen. 



Freezing out is caused by the ground being first saturated or soaked with 

 water and thenj frozen deeply. When the water is changed to ice it expands, 

 and with this enlargement the soil is heaved up. If the soil be examined when 

 in this state, it will be found full of ice in small divisions, giving it the appearance 

 of honey-comb. If this ice is suddenly thawed, and the water and the ground 

 sink down together, no injury is done to the roots, unless the cold is very intense. 

 But if, as is often the case, the thawing is gradual during the day, and followed 

 by cold, freezing nights, then the injury is great, and is occasioned in this manner : 

 as the ice is thawed on the top, the water runs down into low places, and is 

 evaporated quickly, for the cool northwest or western winds are so very dry, 

 and so highly and positively electrified, that their capacity for absorbing moisture 

 is much greater than that of the warm winds of summer. Every housewife, 

 when hanging out the washed clothes to freeze dry, gives evidence of this fact. 

 Soon the top soil is dried, it sinks down as the ice leaves it, into a dry and loose 

 condition. But the roots of the wheat cannot sink down with them, because their 

 lower parts are held fast by the ice which remains about them unthawed. Thus 

 gradually they are bared, and whilst so the night's ireezing kills them. A few 

 such upheavals and freezing destroy a large portion of the crop. Now, it la 

 against this destruction that drilling is especially advantageous, for reasons that 

 will be stated presently. 



Freezing in results from the extreme intensity only of the cold. Beyond a 

 certain degree of cold, winter wheat is as easily killed by it as oats, and spring 

 wheat is at a lesser degree. Hence the necessity, in high latitudes, of the pro- 

 tection of the snow. Roots that are weak, from not having time to become 

 strong, from late sowing, or from the soil being so poor that it does not afford 

 them sufiicient nutriment, haA^e not that vitality which older or better grown 

 roots have, and are therefore more easily killed. A correspondent asks why 

 wheat sown on new soil stands the winter better ? Because, being a rich soil, it 

 has grown a more vigorous root, and also because new ground, being more po- 

 rous, allows the water to pass through it more readily, so that freezing does not 

 upheave it so much. 



These facts explain several other things seen in the experience of the past 

 winter. They show why the Z«;:e-sowu wheat Avas killed, although drilled in, 

 and why the field sown broadcast in August produced so good a crop. Hence 

 is seen, too, that to determine the relative advantages of drill and broadcast 

 sowing, we should kiiow the nature and condition of the soil, and the time of 

 sowing ; for whatever the excellencies of the drill may be, it cannot take the 

 place of manures, or deep ploughing, or a thoroughly pulverized soil, or timely 

 sowing. The field of 30 acres, referred to by our correspondent from Marion 

 county, Ohio, was destroyed because the soil was not sufficiently rich to grow a 

 ruot having a vitality sufficient to endure the intense cold of last winter, made more 

 intense by the large quantities of water which were held by the tenacious character 

 of the soil. If to these unf;ivorable conditions late sowing had to be added, who 

 can rationally expect that the drill, whatever its excellencies, could overcome 

 the combined power of such evils ? 



3. And here the conviction must force itself upon the mind of every reflect- 

 ing reader how much American agriculture needs the aid of well-conducted, 

 closely-observed, and long-continued experiments. Partially observed results 



