HALF AN INCH OF RAIN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 74, 20 December 1907, Page 4

HALF AN INCH OF RAIN.

.THE STOR^O-F^^ftlNDpOli'.fv-^ -v. | ■ MONEYai|||illST| |^^3 The kittle "begins high up in the ol^ls—S . ment of a . mist—ttat^.dbscenrfs, slowly,.. as a snow-fljice $docs,4 gathering substance ai)d Speed Jn its in'ight, finally smites —as -to toad lit" the school: books—the noje o| ail ol{! far'mir to gladden, his great ,*ljcartj>. and splash sii a hundred particles parched Joatcrop—lJ,/has- ib^ftbl.b■.to^-t-ql!.' . . W"*" Whafe does iftjiiroan, this , half an inch»;of rain that lias lalleifttk; .thellast hours, ..Jiere and of the Dominion? It means area of soil.;that has been thus favoured has had its':thirst quenched with a .drink of fifty solid t<jns of water to every acre. In the hngu^^of'A-tfcot'lVlongrllciri'ifeai^k'fCTiin!! water is a typically "jsoftdrink; but;;.notliing disparaging can .;.be said about ife as a refresher for a wilting . crop. Rainwater has ; a peculiarly stimulatiiifj effi'Ot. You may drench a crop to saturation with' ordinary tap or well ywater, and se&^-no improvement ; but a showor .of rain startles, eveiythiug into life. .Reaves expand, <sjicw ; shoots ooze out, strawberries that lyive been '/hanging firo" instantly fill : out and.colour; orchard fruits swsll) grass changcs.s its hue, . and farm -crops, generally perform( amazing feats of growtji. As'to the fayner himself and his encumbrances —how is it that they find it so ihard to do notliing, while it is ,raining? .farmers get a most distressing' working fij; on after it rained for a quarter of,.„an hour. It is 'said by .some that the strailge influence' of yain on ,plants lis partly duqjto the elcctrical-', tues which the first showers of rain contain.. It very well be .so. Electrical movements no doubt accompany a change of weather, and -their stimulating effect-; on_plant growth has -jbeen experimentally" proved beyond question. In England, :;|iietworks of electrically active wires have Leon spread over potato ajid strawberry crops, or distributed underground, to expedite .growth and increase tliij crop. And in those cases the results' havav. been strangely-.con-firmative of the electrical theory.' The crops developed like lightning. But electrical ■ action in ,th'e 'atmosphere produces ammonia and nitrates, and nitrites—the great vpromoters of growth—and the first' showers bring those precious compounds down jjyith .them"to the .soil. So»that-here agaiqi we have a 1 further possibly cause of the stimulus of the first shower.' The .''nitrogenous compounds of rain ar% of. infinitesimalsproportions, hut they are jl commodity of wjiich a very little goes a vei;y long way ; ancUthe plants are greedily waiting to tako 'adyan■tage of every unit of them. A million pounds•of rain.over-a city, according to tain about olb. of ammonia; but iimtho pure air of tjhe country it contains -only aboiit.Jlb.ifi^-JO,OOO,QOpJb. i. Bert, i,'tlie' great ''Vxperi'mci'it£lists, ascertained the pouyfl^..,weights, of r cwtam ingredients per miljigit, pounds'or rairf as follow: — . ' * ; ->>.**•• Ammonia Nitrates ./andTotal nitrites. nitrogen. 33 '1» ' 3 '" ' i - ? li. r . ,7(1. ( , Those formed the average of sixtynine samples. Dew contains' four,,.times,..gs much.!.'Tlius our fifty, tons of rain "per acre gave |be soil abo'ut mtr.Q^iijti^giyiiPjirj' acre. j,lt would be. in a highly:'available con-dition;,-and Joz. in one equina*, lent to. 61b. per annum if contimfed* dail.v'i' •equal jto an apiilicatfon;-„svjt-./ pnate "of ammonia. But who can compare the SQft-, Btimulatnis.; icleiiitajtsj of.; ; rain with those of tne crude'"s"alts one "buys'' from tlie m#miW worchanljs?, -be like %cpmp'arinjr good- Scotch jirhisK.? with niethyljited spirite'*- 'iSythcr elec'trical factor to be reckon«ji A with, and the chaiigqfl density of the; atmosphere. Plants no, do.u'bt ivTightjof. atmosphere just like.■. human beinp. There are- sgme ant-hbriti^"'! <vli6 the light-hgartedness vyjiich on the", break-up of a. drought to |i change in the. liver. It is no doubt duo solely to the "lifting" ~ companies rain. The liver is blamecl for' many. uneommitted' sinsth < ing fit?.' ,\rhiclv,.jnakcß./a«former resist..,'the tertipffitioii' ttf "tritinplfc' ofi ground! in wet weather .ig 'jftxplaftitdri.'Fifty tons o| rain per aero are not to be laughed at. Apart irpm^tlie, ; ,manu4 a Ji/..f ( H lt fi)t5 t . J»f» the raiiPifself, 'it''li'a^. l tb"b'e''iioted' soil interstices are protiably, just before a shower, laden with dislfelved matters which, for want of moisture,."have not been /able to travel to the rootsl{: The first rains tribute these with theni", and reach the ji'oot hairs a very rich flui|l. : A growing tirop will, however, soon breathe out from'*'its leaves-again these fifti.v tons of water acre, so that it is gratifying to, learn that the weather prophets predict more showtrs. We sympathise with £the grain farmers, whose parchcd crops "are already stortKed. AVe commiserate the Ifiy-makcrs. feel a sort of joy for tlie sake of the dSiry farmers who want more fmilk, and the sheep-> farmers, who are sighing over their dry 'ftasf,, tures. And we are, glad that the rahr-has fallen. _ * This, then, is the story of the rain-drop._', : ' /