LOOSE SOILS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 334, 4 March 1915, Page 3

LOOSE SOILS.

That a loose soil is protected against ordinary drought has been repeatedly proven. Being a non-conductor of heat, it acts as a mulch, keeps the soil damp, and the roots cool; whereas the hard, unploughed land is a good conductor, and affords no resistance to the access of the injurious heat of the sun. Dew in abundance is very valuable to young plants, and its formation is facilitated by stirring the soil. If any farmer will, observe in the morning in his flower or kitchen garden, lie will see that dew is often abundantly formed upon the loosely-cultivated beds, while it is totally absent in the hard walks, and this is just what happens on a much larger scale in the fields. Moreover, when the formation of dew is so great as to be everywhere, that upon the loose soil is absorbed and carried to tlio roots of the plants, while that upon the hard soil is quickly evaporated and lost.