48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



it is being more and more realized that the conditions and 

 texture of the soil in its ability to retain or rid itself of its 

 moisture is the true influence on our crops, and that the 

 actual amount of water contained in the soil determines the 

 character of the season, instead of the amount of rainfall. 

 In the light, sandy soils there is little resistance offered to 

 the flow of water, and a falling rain runs through it quickly, 

 and it is dried out rapidly by evaporation, etc. Such land is 

 best adapted to truck farming, w^hile the darker, clayey soil, 

 offerino- o-reater resistance to the flow of water and so retaining 

 more of its moisture, is best adapted for grass and grain crops. 



The evaporation of moisture from the soil is an important 

 consideration, and much more attention should be paid to it 

 than is now done Ijy the average farmer. Wc cannot pro- 

 tect our fields from the evaporating effects of the wind and 

 sun, but we can greatly check and hinder it by a judicious 

 use of the cultivator among our hoed crops. By frequent 

 stirring of the surface of the ground we form a fine mulch, 

 which prevents a rapid heating of the soil, and in a great 

 measure the evaporation from the soil and subsoil. There 

 are many interesting points that might be discussed in this 

 connection, but thorough preparation of the land, with sub- 

 soiling where it is necessary to break up a compact subsoil, 

 followed by shallow but frequent cultivation of the surface, 

 will undoubtedly make our average crops much safer during 

 our short but sharp summer droughts. 



Plants may l)e grown in latitudes in which they are not 

 indigenous, but the districts of best growth of all plants 

 may be sharply defined climatologically. We know, for 

 example, that the crops that make best growth in the south- 

 ern United States would give no results if planted in New 

 England, yet they will thrive and do well in the same lati- 

 tude in western Europe. Grazing and agricultural pursuits 

 are carried on to considerable extent in Norway and Sweden, 

 while in the same latitude in this country there are vast 

 deserts of ice and snow. In one case the shores are washed 

 by the warm waters of the gulf stream, and warm south- 

 westerly winds prevail ; and in the other the cold arctic 

 waters and the westerly, dry, cold, continental winds have 

 the controlling influence. 



