84 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



USES OP THE SNOW. 



HE revol- 

 utions of 

 the sea- 

 sons are 

 not only 

 n ecessary 

 in produ- 

 ^ cing and 

 perfect- 

 ing the 

 crops up- 

 on which 



subsist, 



but they are peculiarly grateful to restless 

 man, who would die of monotony if beautiful 

 June should continue for six months. But 

 pleasant as are the changes of the seasons, 

 one can hardly see the earth wrapt in its white 

 mantle, with all its late delightful colors, va- 

 ried scenery, fragrant flowers and singing 

 birds, swept away by the fierce breath of win- 

 ter, without some feelings of sadness. He 

 cannot regret the change, because He who 

 holds the earth in His hands, has ordered all 

 this in Infinite wisdom, and we know it is all 

 for the best. Nevertheless, a sadness will 

 steal over us, and this should lead us to look 

 for the compensations which the change 

 brings with it. There is a bright side to the 

 picture. "While our gardens and fields are 

 buried in snow, and our roads are blocked 

 up with drifts, are there no benefits in this 

 winter covering which partially make up for 

 its admitted evils and discomforts ?" Undoubt- 

 edly there are, and especially so to the far- 

 mer. He would look to it more with an eye 

 to profit than with a poetic fancy or scientific 

 research ; will recall the old proverb, that 

 "snow is the poor man's manure," and look 

 for luxuriant crops of rye and grass to spring 

 up where it has been so amply protected. 

 He has been told that snow abounds in ammo- 

 nia, more, even, than is contained in rain 

 water, as in falling, the Hakes sift the air 

 through which they pass, and return all the 

 impurities which they gather, as fertilizers to 

 the soil. Snow has a very considerable ab- 

 sorbent power. A writer illustrates it as fol- 

 lows : — Take a lump of snow of three or four 

 inches in length, and hold it in the flame of a 



lamp ; not a drop of water will fall from the 

 snow, but the water as fast as formed will 

 penetrate or be drawn up into the snow by 

 capillary attraction. It is by virtue of this 

 power that it purifies the atmosphere by ab- 

 sorbing and retaining its noxisus and noisome 

 gases and odors." 



Deep snows prevent the ground from freez- 

 ing, operating like a blanket to keep off cold 

 winds and preventing radiation. Under these 

 circumstances snow melts next to the ground, 

 and the water supplies the springs and 

 streams. Were it not for this — ^in the ab- 

 sence of rains — great inconvenience would be 

 felt in the want of water for stock and other 

 domestic uses, as well as to drive the wheels 

 of factories. 



Snow absorbs exhalations from the earth, 

 and when it melts returns them to the soil as 

 fertilizing properties. 



Another important use of snow is the pro- 

 tection it affords to vegetable, and even ani- 

 mal life. In very cold weather, the partridge 

 will plunge deep into the dry snow, entirely 

 out of the wind, and there sleep as comforta- 

 bly as in a nest of down. "Even in northern 

 latitudes, there are plants which require more 

 or less protection in winter. Nature provides 

 for them most wisely. She hangs over them 

 the branches of neighboring trees and bushes, 

 gathers about their roots a many-folded blan- 

 ket of dry leaves, and last of all, spreads 

 over them a fleecy mantle of tnow. Sweep 

 off the snow from our wheat fields and mead- 

 ows, and at least a portion of the crop would 

 be winter-killed. The buds of peach trees 

 are often killed in severe winters; but if a 

 few branches get under the snow, they pro- 

 duce a splendid show of fruit." 



Dr. Kane, in his "Arctic Expedition," 

 mentions finding various plants in perfect con- 

 dition under the snow, which could not have 

 lived uncovered. He says: — "Few of us at 

 home can realize the protecting value of this 

 warm coverlet of snow. No eider-down in 

 the cradle of an infant is tucked in more 

 kindly than the sleeping dress of winter about 

 this feeble flower life." 



To the farmer, there is another compensa- 

 tion. The snow enables him to enter upon 

 woodlands and haul off fuel and timber, where 

 he could accomplish but little with wheels; 

 aud to work in swamps, to drain them, or to 



