288 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



hokticuIiTUKa.Ij schooi, for 



WOMEN. 



A few weeks since we published the names of 

 the officers of an association of ladies and gentle- 

 man of this city and vicinity, of ample means and 

 liberal minds, designed to test the experiment of a 

 horticultural school for women. The originators 

 believe that certain branches of horticulture, such 

 as flowers and small fruits, offer a healthful, 

 appropriate and paying business for women, many 

 of whom now complain of a want of honorable, 

 remunerative employment in the various industries 

 open to the other sex. But horticulture is a trade 

 or an art that can be acquired only as other trades 

 and arts are acquired. This association is now 

 ready to afford the instruction and the opportunity 

 for practice necessary to enable women to become 

 practical horticulturists. Thus far, however, it is 

 only a proposed experiment. As it requires two to 

 make a bargain, the questions now arise, Do women 

 wish to learn the art of raising flowers, strawber- 

 ries, currants, &c., as a business ? If any, how 

 many will become pupils in the proposed school ? 

 Hence the advertisement which we recently 

 published, soliciting correspondence with those 

 women, either young or old, who are interested in 

 the proposed school. The advertisement was pub- 

 lished in our paper that the attention of farmers' 

 daughters, especially those living near a good mar- 

 ket, may be called to the subject. With the in- 

 struction that might be obtained in a short time at 

 the proposed school, it is thought that many such 

 "daughters" might return home, and, with the aid 

 of the other members of the family, introduce 

 upon the old homestead a new employment, a new 

 source of income, and a new adornment of the 

 country home. 



For the New England Farmer, 



ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE. 



Its Causes and Effects as Regards the Farm. 



Read before the Concord Farmers' Club, February 3d, 



1870, by Frederick G. Pratt. 



The changes in moisture on the surface of 

 the earth are probably caused by movements 

 of the air in various ways, over which we 

 have or can have but little control ; and any 

 facts I can find that bear on this subject, only 

 prove how little we know, or can do, towards 

 controlling these agents. 



Thus we know that clouds are the result of 

 vapor in the air, coming together in larger 

 particles, so as to be sensible to the sight. 

 These, growing larger, drop in the form of 

 rain, hail or snow, according to the tempera- 

 ture of the air ; or, conditions being differ- 

 ent, these clouds become dispersed, the par- 

 ticles of moisture being separated, — the same 

 amount of moisture in the air, perhaps, but 

 more finely comminuted. Now is there any 

 way in which we can control this moisture in 

 any degree ? I think there is. Look at this. 



In the monthly report of the Department 



of Agriculture, for December, 1869, in sum- 

 ming up the reports from the various parts of 

 the country, in regard to the extensive drought 

 prevailing the past season, are to be found 

 these words : 



"A fair summary of repoits from the entire dis- 

 trict affected by drought would be : Fields badly 

 tilled, overrun with weeds, or with a thin sandy 

 soil, or a heavy clay not ameliorated by culture, 

 — were scorched and partially or wholly laid waste ; 

 while deep soils of river bottoms, rich slopes of 

 virgin soij, and fields kept clean of weeds, and 

 frequently cultivated, gave satisfactory and even 

 large returns." 



There is one way to keep up the moisture 

 in the soil. Keep the soil constantly loose and 

 light with frequent cultivating. I think most 

 of the farmers in this club have seen its value 

 in our corn crop in times of drought. It 

 comes from allowing the air to permeate the 

 soil. 



Again, in the October report of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, I find these true words : 



"The great agricultural lesson of the season in- 

 culcates the necessity of draining and thorough 

 culture. It is not an exaggeration to estimate the 

 reduction this season over the whole country, 

 from the alternate drowning and scorching of the 

 farm crops, at two hundred million of dollars. 

 Reports from drought-parched regions declare 

 that crops are in fair condition on land well 

 worked, and that the effect of the heat was aggra- 

 vated by want of cultivation as dry weather set 

 in. That on drained soils, properly cultivated, 

 fine crops were obtained; while on wet or un- 

 drained lands, and fields neglected or half culti- 

 vated a failure was imminent. The crop returns 

 of Great Britain (where the early season was sim- 

 ilar to ours) enforce the same lesson, though a far 

 smaller proportion of British lands are not under- 

 drained or poorly cultivated." 



At the West, in Colorado territory, I find 

 several authorities which prove that the rain- 

 fall is steadily increasing there. One says : — 



"That the rain fall has doubled there since 1860, 

 and the dry, and formerly arid, sterile plain be- 

 tween South Platte and the mountains west, 

 which enclosed an extent of country averaging 

 twenty miles wide by 100 long, cut crosswise by 

 valleys, has been irrigated Dy ditches, and the 

 high prairies have been farmed with the best re- 

 sults. This cultivation, by increasing the growth 

 of grasses, weeds and bushes, has also created 

 greater evaporation and moisture in our atmos- 

 phere, which returns to us when our east winds 

 blow in summer, in most valuable fertilizing 

 showers. This year, 1869, no irrigation has been 

 needed until late in the month, when most of the 

 wheat, oats, rye and barley were so far advanced 

 that irrigation would not benefit them. It is a 

 matter ot universal remark here among old set- 

 tlers, that high prairies, miles away from streams, 

 can this year be mowed with profit fur hay, where 

 a year ago, grazing in July and Augast was only 

 indifferent, the soil bare in many places, and 

 parched, or covered with worthless cactus or 

 prickly pear." 



This shows what a change comes over the 

 land where the soil is worked, and a chance is 

 given by grass and other plants to absorb 

 moisture, and retain it, to give it out again 

 more regularly the season through. So in 

 Egypt, the Great Desert is being brought 



