— 6 — 



tall plants the stalks of which should remain standing over winter (Ba- 

 rakow, Batalin), even ploughing over snow, making furrows to hold 

 later snowfalls; and sowing over the winter land spring plants — such as 

 mustard —which would hold the snow between its stalks withered by the 

 winter cold (Batalin). 



All these propositions regarding the utility of accumulated snow ba- 

 sed themselves on logical considerations without taking into consideration 

 the direct controlling influence played by the moisture in the soil 

 when under a pall of snow at certain periods, commencing in autumn, 

 continuing through winter and finishing in spring 



Then the forced, as it were, cultivation of tall-stalked plants not 

 always suitable to given climatic conditions and the problem of organi- 

 sing plans for each farm, did not find acceptance, and the expectations 

 based upon accumulated snow have not been justified up to the present. 

 And if there are still defenders of these old principles, it is only because 

 they are founded on the easily misleading proposition: — that melting snow 

 is almost wholly absorbed in a liquid condition into the soil and raises 

 the quantity of water held there to a considerable extent. 



It is out of this supposition • — that snow water saturated the 

 soil — that the misunserstanding arises. And I shall dwell on this mat- 

 ter rather fully in order to dissipate any misleading ideas regarding the 

 process of snow thawing in spring and its absorbition into the soil. This 

 comes so much easier for me to do, because the Odessa Experimental 

 Field carry on investigations into the temperature of the soil at the fol- 

 lowing depths: — o (on the surface), 2. 6, 10, 14, 20, 40 and 80 cm. In the 

 ploughable layer there are therefore five thermometers that is to say there 

 is all the data required for the most accurate explanation both as regards 

 the melting of the snow as well as the thawing of the soil. 



It is only possible for snow to lie on the fields in a case where 

 both snow and soil have a temperature below zero. If the soil had a higher 

 temperature its warmth would be transmitted to the snow, which would 

 melt by degrees, the resulting water being absorbed by the soil. 



We may observe this in autumn, when snow falls on unfrozen 

 ground. Then the snow thaws quickly. Up to the commencement of spring, 

 the soil layer freezes to the depth of one metre and more, in Central 

 and Nothern Russia, and to 40—50 — 80 cm. in the South. Throughout 

 the frozen layer the temperature is so low that water finds itself in a 

 hard condition and consequently incapable of motion. Briefly, so long as 

 the frozen layer does not attain a temperature above zero, the water 

 therein remains hard and motionless; and so long as the snow holds 

 out, the temperature of which^ of course, is always below zero, the upper 



