THE PROPERTIES OF WATER. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



WATER. ITS RELATION TO VEGETABLE GROWTH. 



Water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen in the 

 proportion of 8 parts by weight of the former to 1 part of 

 the latter: and by volume or bulk of 1 part of oxygen to 2 

 of hydrogen. It is more universally diffused throughout 

 nature than any other chemical compound, and performs 

 the most important functions in regard to animal and veg- 

 etable life. Its remarkable properties are most wonderfully 

 adapted to the existing condition of things and offer to the 

 farmer and student of natural science the most interesting 

 subjects for study and experiment. 



It exists in the 3 forms; a solid, as ice ; a liquid in its com- 

 mon form; and a gas; as steam or watery vapor. At 32 

 degrees of temperature it becomes ice and remains solid ; 

 at any higher temperature it melts and becomes liquid and 

 at 212 degrees it changes to a gas, which continues to ex- 

 pmid under the influence of increasing heat. Steam is 1700 

 times lighter and more bulky than water and is a little 

 more than half as heavy (sixty-two one hundredths) as air. 

 It therefore rises quickly and becomes diffused through the 

 air. Liquid water is 815 times heavier than air and a 

 cubic foot of it weighs 62 L> pounds. 



Water in the form of ice and snow has an important ac- 

 tion upon the soil and consequently affects considerably the 

 interests of the farmer. 



In the act of freezing which is a process of crystallization 

 water expands in bulk about one-eleventh. This expan- 

 sive force is irresistible, because water is incompressible and 

 cannot be reduced in bulk by any amount of pressure which 

 can be applied to it. A very small quantity of water that 

 may be absorbed by rocks, in expanding as it freezes, bursts 

 asunder the particles of the stone and these flake off and 

 form soil. In the soil a similar action goes on. The water 



