256 HAMPSHIRE SOCIETY. 



productions take their character from the soil, whether they 

 are grapes or grass, or peaches or wheat. 



This process of thoroughly draining land, by removing stag- 

 nant water which contains no carbonic acid for the nourish- 

 ment of plants, allows rain and running water which contain 

 this important ingredient, to have access to the roots to nour- 

 ish them, allows the air also to find its way to the manure in 

 the soil, to decompose it and make it soluble, and thus prepare 

 it to enter into the composition of the growing crop. Thus 

 too, by the withdrawment of water, the ground is often left 

 porous for the free range of the roots in search of pasture, and 

 gives them food that is not too much diluted. The farmer 

 should constantly remember that stagnant water is not invig- 

 orating to a man or to a vegetable in comparison with rain or 

 running water, even though they are both thirsty. 



This process moreover raises the teinpei'ature of the soil and 

 of the air around, and in this way produces the rapid growth 

 of plants and their full maturity. You can be convinced of 

 this by putting a thermometer a (qw inches below the surface 

 in soil charged with water, and compare it with another soil, or 

 by consulting your own sensations, or a floral calendar. Evap- 

 oration, a cooling process, is prevented by the withdrawment 

 of water from the soil, and thus the temperature of the soil 

 itself and of the air which passes over it, is raised so much as 

 to hasten the ripening and thereby accomplish the saving of 

 the crop, not only on the land itself, but also on that which is 

 adjacent. This is a change equivalent to a change of latitude. 

 This, in a northern climate like our own, especially in a north- 

 ern exposure, is of the greatest consequence. Many a lost 

 crop of Indian corn might have been saved. 



This process favors the hibernation and sleep of plants which 

 is essential to their health and growth. Plants in northern 

 latitudes require sleep as the animal creation does. If certain 

 plants are continually kept in a growing state they become feeble 

 and short lived. You may see this in the transfer of northern 

 trees, like the apple-tree for instance, to southern climates where 

 there is no winter, which as a matter of course degenerate. 

 Now it happens sometimes in low lands that springs come up 



