Translations:Benutzer:Arian/Klett-Mini-Test/799/en

The Formation of Frost Tilth

As a consequence of the anomaly of water — that in crystallizing it expands in volume and thereby becomes specifically lighter — it produces a bursting action in the water-saturated capillary cracks, fissures, and pores of the soil. This is particularly beneficial when, after a late root-crop harvest in autumn and a waterlogged soil, the plough has left behind a smeared, coherence-compacted furrow slice. Then "Master Frost" is called for, who restores the soil to a crumbling condition such as no implement could achieve. The frost shatters the coherent mass of the soil into a multitude of small, angular, polygonal crumbs — the "frost tilth." Since it arises by purely physical means, it is unstable and can easily be washed back into a slurry by heavy rain. But if the farmer is fortunate, and the frost tilth holds through into early spring, it stabilizes by biological means and secures — so it is said — half the harvest, even before the spring seed is in the ground.