_^ 9 — 



the others remain damp and we get unequal sprouting. This one cir- 

 cumstance is sufficient to show the impossibility of using these means of 

 watering the soil, for such a motley on the field would exclude every 

 possibility of having the field work done in good time. 



I have dwell on this question because much that is improbable and 

 fantastic has gathered round it without having been proved by accurate 

 and reiterated investigation of the moisture in the soil; and also because- 

 up to the present, serious importance has been attached to the accumula- 

 ting of snow on fields with regard to the question of fighting against 

 drought. In the extreme southern zone, about 100 versts from the Black 

 Sea, this means of fighting against drought has less importance as there 

 is little or no snow there in winter. 



Resuming our deliberations on the rest of the proposed measures I 

 shall stop to examine some of A. Shishkin's as he has touched this ques- 

 tinn from very various points of view. 



Deep mellowing of the soil which all the writers on this subject 

 unanimously regard as a matter of a great importance with regard to 

 fighting against drought, has also very little real significance. On the 

 Odessa field there have been more than 1000 experiments made on 

 the effect of deep ploughing for winter and spring crops, and no difference 

 in favour of deep [lO''-.' inches] or even mediate ploughing [7 inch.] was 

 obtained in the harvest. Investigations into the humidity of the soil also 

 showed no difference in that respect between deep and shallow [3' 2 inches] 

 ploughing. 



The argument in favour of deep ploughing, that deeply mellowed 

 soil imbiles more atmospheric residue, falls through, because little residue 

 settles on the sfeppe districts and it all enters the soil whether deeply 

 ploughed o- not. On certain types of soil und in more northern regions 

 deep ploughing may have a beneficial effect for other reasons - airing 

 the soil etc. — but not as regard opposing drought. 



As for manuring black-earth, which drough attacks very severely, 

 with dung and mineral manures, this question even now, abont 40 years 

 after the appearance of A. Shishkin's work, is not solved decisively. And 

 this is good proof that the effect of manure on black -earth is not so 

 telling as on other soils. Experiece with manuring on southern fields 

 points to a negative answer to this question. A more probable explana- 

 tion of the reason why dung acts negatively may be thus: -that the 

 higher concentration of liquid in the soil, by introducing manure into it 

 from outside, when there is very little reserve snow-water, brings with 

 it a diseased condition of the plant organisms. And this, instead of raising, 

 may even diminish the crops, as practical observation proves often enough 



