74 THE YEAR. 



state of water. In high latitudes, the store of moisture 

 is always, like the store of most other things, laid up 

 in the autumn. Perhaps, indeed, there does not fall 

 as much then as in the 'summer, at least in countries 

 not very near the polar regions ; but in summer the 

 humidity is kept in motion, as the quantity evaporated 

 is, in the average of years, fully more than that which 

 falls. As the days shorten, however, and the vegeta- 

 tion become less active, from the hardening of the leaves 

 and stems, the evaporation diminishes ; and the water 

 sinks into and saturates the soil, in the warmer places, 

 before the frost takes effect ; while, in places that are 

 colder, the snow and the frost come nearly at the same 

 time, so that the earth is not acted upon by an atmos- 

 phere much under 32. In both cases there is a pre- 

 servation of humidity against the next season of vege- 

 tation ; and, in both, that humidity performs an im- 

 portant service during the winter. The soil in the 

 warm places, which has been indurated, during the 

 dry season, to a consistency in which the fibres of 

 vegetables could not make their way, is penetrated 

 in all directions by the water, to which the champs 

 and fissures, that are formed in very strong soils, con- 

 tribute. As the water that is thus mixed with the soil, 

 freezes, the mass expands, with a force greater than 

 any measurable resistance. The soil is thus rent 

 asunder, and when the thaw comes it is reduced to a 

 mould, or paste, according to its nature and the quan- 

 tity of moisture. This has many advantages in the 

 spring. The soil is loose, vegetables can take root in 

 it ; and while the mere surface is converted into dust 

 at a very early period of the season, that very dust both 



