582 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
A^igust 31 
THE NATURAL SUPPLt OF MOISTURE. 
THE NECESSITY OF ABUNDANT WATER. 
The Course of Local Summer Showers. 
TKE QUESTIONS. 
1. In your opinion, which is the more important factor in the 
roduction of profitable farm crops: a soil of high fertility, or a 
well-regulated supply of moisture, either by natural or artificial 
means, the conditions of culture being the same ? 2. Given a soil 
of high fertility, will an extra cultivation be likely to produce as 
satisfactory results in a very dry growing season, as moderate 
cultivation in a soil of average fertility during a normally moist 
season? 3. During an average season, do or do not most crops 
seem to suffer more from lack of moisture to make plant food 
available, than from absolute lack of assimilable plant food ? 4. 
Are there not tracts of arable land in your vicinity which seem to 
lie out of the usual track of summer showers, and, therefore, in a 
given series of years, seem to get less than the average precipi¬ 
tation of rain during the growing season ? 5. Should not these 
lands be rated at a smaller value than those situated in the usual 
track of summer storms ? 6 . Do summer showers seem to follow 
ridges of land, and the general course of large streams in your 
locality ? 
THE ANSWERS. 
The Situation in New England. 
1. The most important factor in New England is 
unquestionably a good condition and quality of the 
soil ; since seasons are uncommon in which there is a 
marked deficiency of moisture—such a deficiency as 
cannot be overcome by proper preparation and til¬ 
lage. In 30 years, I have seen no such season, though 
we have had seasons in which crops not properly put 
in and tended, have been short. The crop most com¬ 
monly and the worst affected, is the hay crop, and 
that simply because it is the crop which has the least 
care and good management. It is the crop which is 
most commonly left to take what other crops have 
left. Such crops, of necessity, suffer most in a dry 
season, because it is only by the aid of sufficient rain 
that plant food is made available. 2. To this query, 
I answer, yes, for this part of the country. 3. Not in 
this region of abundant rainfall ; but elsewhere, in 
my experience and observation (in southern Maine, 
and especially in the Ohio Valley), a deficiency of rain 
to sustain crops, and especially crops badly put in and 
cultivated, is not very infrequent. 4. No ; the reverse 
is true ; but 1 am well aware that there are not a few 
localities where the rainfall is often short, and where, 
therefore, a skillful handling of soil and crop makes 
the difference between fair success and disastrous 
failure. 5. Certainly they should be so rated ; yet 
“ there is as much in the man as there is in the land ” 
in such cases ; and in a water famine, there are always 
farms, even in close proximity to each other, where 
good and poor farming are illustrated in a striking 
manner. 6. In some degree ; but less in our elevated 
territory than in the lowlands near Lake Champlain 
and the St. Lawrence River. We have more rain, on 
this high ground, than commonly falls in the low¬ 
lands adjoining Lake Champlain ; but, also, we have 
less than falls in the Green Mountains. Oftentimes— 
this very moment of writing is an instance—we can 
see the rain falling heavily in the mountains west of 
us, while we are getting a mere sprinkle. Rut if this 
rain continue 12 hours or more, we shall get pretty 
w r ell soaked before the clouds pass by. 
Vermont. t. h. hoskins. 
Value of Water in Illinois. 
1 . If 1 had my choice of two tracts of land, one of 
which w r as naturally very fertile, but wholly de¬ 
pendent upon the clouds for moisture, and the other 
only moderately fertile, but easily irrigated, I would 
take the latter at nearly double the price of the other. 
If I could obtain a supply of moisture just when 
needed, 1 could very soon secure the fertility by the 
use of clover and manure. Just over the hedge to the 
west of me, lie 40 acres of land that is somewhat run 
down, and badly needs clovering. The owner has 
sown the seed three years in succession, yet failed to 
obtain a stand, simply because of lack of a little 
moisture at the right time. Each of these three years, 
he has sown the land to winter wheat in order to 
secure the “orthodox” conditions for seeding to 
clover ; and this season he even harrowed the wheat 
after solving the clover seed to give the latter a better 
chance ; but the long spring drought has again blasted 
his hopes, and rendered his labors vain. If he could 
have irrigated, how easily he could have made a sure 
thing of an uncertainty. Still, the right sort of cul¬ 
tivation would have helped him somewhat. On my 
side, on the same kind of land, 1 sowed clover with 
oats last spring, preparing a deep, mellow seed bed ; 
and, while I did not secure a full stand, I have a fair 
one, now in full bloom. 2. No. Ry turning under a 
crop of clover about the middle of May, harrowing 
thoroughly and keeping the surface perfectly loose 
all the season, as high as 35 and 40 bushels of corn per 
acre have been raised with only two or three light 
sprinkles of rain. Rut tw r o good showers at the right 
time, would have doubled the yield. With a sufficiency 
of moisture, a soil of average fertility, cultivated suf¬ 
ficiently to keep down all weeds, would yield 50 to 65 
bushels per acre. 3. Yes. 4. Our summer showers 
seem to follow each other about as often as they fol¬ 
low water courses. Last season, they were few and 
far between, and they followed courses northwest and 
southeast of this locality. This season, they have 
been even scarcer and lighter, but their course seems 
to lie right across this locality, while those sections 
they so highly favored last season, are as dry as dust. 
The courses they seem to mark out in the earliest part 
of the season, are the ones they generally follow all 
through. 6. There is no doubt about their following, 
or inclining to follow, water courses, and they seem 
prone to avoid ridges. Ask this question of 50 farmers 
we meet on the road, and 45 of them would say that 
most of our summer showers appear to fall on the tim¬ 
ber—the rough, timbered tracts along water courses. 
Illinois. FREI) GRUNDY. 
As it Appears in Missouri. 
L I am undecided as to the correct answer to this. 
Some years it would seem that it could be answered 
one way, and other years another way. With good, 
fertile soil, deeply plowed, I have found that the very 
best of cultivation seems to answer for the rain and 
cultivation both. During the longest and driest spells 
of weather, I have kept things growing right along by 
giving good, thorough, shallow cultivation. 1 should 
say, however, that a well-regulated water supply 
would be preferable, for then we are sure of a partial 
crop ; while in case of high fertility without any 
rain, our crop is a failure. Rut if we can have enough 
rains to start things growing well, we can. with only 
occasional showers, have fair crops with thorough 
cultivation. 2. Yes, the rich soil with extra cultiva¬ 
tion will produce the most satisfactory results. 3. 
The moisture is necessary to make the plant-food 
available, and if it be not in the ground where you 
can hold it with extra cultivation, then the plants 
must have the rains or water by irrigation. The 
plants do suffer more from lack of moisture. 4. Some 
seasons it would seem so, and others it would not. I 
have never known portions of Missouri to suffer, one 
year after another, for want of an average rainfall. 
5. Nearly all our lands are good, and their value de¬ 
pends on distance from market more than difference 
of rainfall. 6. During the very dry season, such 
would seem to be the case ; but in average seasons, 
we have plenty anyway. The Missouri River seems 
to help attract the clouds ; hence the rainfall. 
Whether this be a rule, I cannot say. I have very 
serious doubts about its being a fact, for our smaller 
streams and orchards and timber lands seem to have 
like attractions. u. a. Goodman. 
Missouri. 
In Eastern Virginia. 
L A well-regulated supply of moisture on land of 
average fertility, is better than an insufficient or irreg¬ 
ular supply on land of high fertility. If we had to 
live on soup, as plants do, and could not get water 
enough to make the soup, we would have to starve a 
part of the time. 2. If the growing season is very 
dry, soil of average fertility, with moderate cultiva¬ 
tion, would give more satisfactory crops, than soil of 
high fertility with extra cultivation. If a steer had 
plenty of the best bay and corn, and only a little 
water every feu days, he could not fatten properly. 
Thorough moisture conserves the moisture of the 
soil, but is not so dependable for the farmer or fruit¬ 
grower, as timely rains or irrigation. 3. Crops gener¬ 
ally suffer more from lack of moisture to dissolve the 
plant-food of the soil than from actual lack of food. 
Very frequent but shallow culture will, in a large 
measure, overcome this difficulty. 4, 5 and 6. There 
are no conditions or tracts on the lower Chesapeake 
peninsula that warrant any statement in answer to 
these questions. h. e. van deman. 
The Moisture Regulates the Yield. 
1. In my opinion, a well-regulated supply of moist¬ 
ure is an absolute essential in the production of an 
enormous crop, while a soil of supposed high fertility 
is not necessarily an essential. When Nature regu¬ 
lates the supply of moisture according to the needs of 
a plant, temperature being right, it is a usual thing to 
get big yields from fields that are not rated as highly 
fertile. It is, indeed, a poor soil that does not con¬ 
tain sufficient available plant-food to produce double 
our country’s average yield of grain or vegetables, 
provided moisture is present in just the amount 
needed for best results. It is true that soils in a high 
state of fertility, usually have the greatest capacity 
for storing up moisture, and furnishing it to plants as 
needed ; so, where irrigation is impracticable, manures 
composed of rotted vegetable matter, and thoroughly 
incorporated with the soil, help to regulate the supply 
of moisture, and probably do as much good in that 
way as in furnishing plant-food. Choosing between 
two desirable things, a well-regulated supply of 
moisture in ordinary soils is of the first importance. 
2. That is a hard question, but 1 would prefer the 
normally moist season and moderate cultivation for 
most crops. We can grow pretty fair crops without 
much rain, when the soil is just right in other re¬ 
spects, and we feel good over our success under the 
circumstances ; but the normally moist season is the 
safer one nine times out of ten. 3. No doubt of it. 
Observation establishes this fact. 4. Yes. 5. Yes. 
6. My home is one mile from the west bank of the 
Ohio River, and eight miles north of the mouth of the 
Great Kanawha, which empties into the Ohio from 
the east. Eight miles north of my home, the Ohio 
flows from the east, bending southward at Pomeroy. 
Looking toward the east, I have a large stream of 
water and corresponding valley upon my right hand, 
and another river and valley upon my left, each being 
several miles distant, while almost all summer 
showers come from the west. I have watched these 
showers closely for many years, noting the course of 
the clouds, and it is very often the case that the clouds, 
rising in the west, incline to break in two before 
reaching the river valley at this point, where for a 
few miles the valley stretches out at right angles to 
the apparent course of the clouds, one portion drift¬ 
ing southward to enter the Kanawha Valley, and the 
other northward to strike the Ohio near the “Pomeroy 
bend,” both portions passing east through these val¬ 
leys. I know that, in droughty weather, we incline 
to believe that all showers “ go around us ; ” but this 
breaking up of clouds, and bending of portions north¬ 
ward and southward to enter these two great valleys, 
are occurrences of great frequency. ai.va agek. 
Southeast Ohio. 
Pulverization Cures a Dry Soil. 
1. “ A soil of high fertility.” 2. Such cultivation as 
completely pulverizes the surface to a depth of from 
two to four inches, and keeps it so, is satisfactorily 
remedial for dry seasons. Hence, both experience and 
observation with me, favor a preference for good soil 
and culture, as against poor culture of moderately 
good soil, with a normal degree of moisture. 3. On 
good soil, no ; on poor, yes. The principle of mulch¬ 
ing, or husbanding of moisture, is sustained by the 
heavier growth and complete shading of the soil, by 
such crops as grass and whea.t on the former. While 
the farmer, as a rule, that has good soil, keeps it so by 
good cultivation, etc., so that crops requiring cultiva¬ 
tion, on good soil, get the benefit of the same mulching 
principle, by thorough working, etc. Conditions relat¬ 
ing to the second half of the proposition are generally 
the opposite. 4. Temporarily so only, that is to say, 
showers, such as are denominated thunder storms, 
tend for some time to follow each other through cer¬ 
tain lines, across streams, and even against tides, 
unless occurring at certain stages of the tides, which 
break up the tracks of showers, that, in inland sec¬ 
tions, possibly might be maintained sufficiently long, 
to prove detrimental to lands outside of such tracks 
in dry seasons. Observation leads me to believe that 
there is a decided difference in favor of tide-water 
sections, as to deviation in the courses of summer 
showers. 5. I know of no lands in this locality that 
should be rated lower in values, because of not receiv¬ 
ing their proportionate share of the rainfall during 
the growing season. 6. Summer showers occurring 
near large streams are, at certain stages of the tides, 
influenced or controlled as to the direction they take 
—either up or down the stream—to a greater or less 
degree. j. w. keiir. 
Caroline County, Md. 
GROWING POTATOES UNDER MULCH. 
When we built a house on “ Luava last spring, we 
found a deserted field. It had Dot been cultivated 
for 10 years or more, and had grown into a tangled 
mass of blackberries and weeds. The soil is low and 
strong, parts of it a heavy, black muck. All but a 
dozen of the blackberry bushes were cut down and 
grubbed out, and the whole place burned over. It 
was then plowed, but this was a sorry job, as the 
tough sod and roots would not roll over properly. 
Most of the sod was planted to sweet corn, Lima 
beans and cabbage, as the best crop for preparing the 
soil for fruit culture. 
On a small part of the sod, however, we decided to 
try the method of mulching potatoes advocated by 
Mr. Strong last December. A patch, 24 x33 feet was 
selected. It had packed down hard and firm after 
plowing, and was in very poor condition for any other 
crop than corn. Twenty shallow drills, not three 
inches deep, were made lengthwise of the piece. A 
Planet Jr. wheel hoe was used for this purpose—it 
was impossible to go deeper without tearing up the 
sod and roots. On April 25, four varieties of potatoes, 
obtained from C. E. Chapman, viz.: Rural New-Yorker 
No. 2, Chicago Market, New Queen and Orphan, were 
planted, fair-sized, two-eyed pieces being placed one 
foot apart in the drills. The pieces were then covered 
as well as possible with the wheel hoe, and on the 
same day a covering two inches deep of stable manure 
was spread evenly over the surface. Five days later, 
