Suddenly he awakened to the sound of his alarm clock radio. He reached over to turn it off. To his surprise, it was 1 o'clock. He jumped out of bed and almost ran over what appeared to be an old farmer in bib overalls!

"Who are you?" Ebenezer asked. "I am the Ghost of Winters Past," the spirit replied. "Who's past?" Ebenezer asked. "North Dakota's past," said the spirit.
"Hold onto my arm and we'll take a little trip." Ebenezer held onto the spirit's arm and was whisked onto what appeared to be an NDSU Research Extension Center.

"Where are we?" Ebenezer asked. "We are at the Carrington REC in 1995," the sprit said. "It's late November and the soil is just frosted in the morning.
See? The researcher is applying urea to some of the plots. It will rain tomorrow and the rain will gently wash the urea into the soil. Watch now as time moves forward," the spirit added.

With that, day and night quickly whirled by before their eyes. When it stopped, they again saw the researcher out in the plots adding urea on areas in the plots with about 4 inches of snow. It was very cold.

"It is about three weeks later," the spirit said. "It's December now. The nights have been below zero for more than a week and the ground is very frozen. Now the researcher is applying urea to certain plots. Does this look familiar to you?"
asked the spirit.

Ebenezer didn't say anything, but thought to himself that it did look very familiar. In fact, he planned to do it again just as soon as he woke up from this stupid dream! Time again whirled by, with days and nights cycling like strobe lights at the fair. When they stopped, the snow was thicker and harder.

"It's a little warmer, though, so thank goodness for that," Ebenezer thought.
The researcher was again out in the field. "The snow is thicker, it's March and the ground hasn't thawed since it froze last December," the spirit said. "A person would have to be crazy to apply urea in snow this deep," Ebenezer said.
"Yes, he would," replied the spirit.

Time again passed by, but not as many cycles this time. When the cycles stopped, the researcher was nowhere to be seen. It was warmer and the snow was rapidly melting.

"Why are we stopping here?" asked Ebenezer. "Look at the water in the fields,"
explained the spirit. "See how the water pools on areas in the field? Look closely at how the water slowly trickles from the plots to ponds and even into the road ditch. The water is there because it slowly runs there during snowmelt.
The water cannot penetrate the frozen soil, so the water, along with any urea applied during the winter, easily runs off. The urea doesn't stay where it is applied and is free to move with the water."

"That's nonsense!" exclaimed Ebenezer. "Urea is attached to the soil and can't move. Besides, how can we get all of our work done in the spring if we have thousands of more acres to handle that we normally would apply in the winter?
Aren't we doing the farmer a favor by saving money on the cost of their urea?"