1S4 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Off. Doc. 



of acreage, and it is this enormous waste of a very valuable resource 

 of every farm that I am here to discuss with you this evening. 



"\Vhen we build a house Ave first get an architect's plan, select a 

 site, and then assemble brick and stone, sand and lime, lumber and 

 lath, and whatever more may be called for by the specifications. Tbe 

 next step is to assemble the workmen, and each trade represented 

 must co-operate and work in harmony, if the building is to be 

 erected expeditiously and economically. If one class of workmen 

 is absent, others are delayed, and the building cannot be completed 

 until each does his part. It is just so in plant building. We need 

 to study the plans of the great architect of Nature, and see that 

 there is assembled in the soil all the materials the plans call for; 

 the nitrogen, the potash, the phosphorus, the lime, and all the minor 

 chemical elements that go to make up a fertile soil. But these in 

 themselves cannot build the plant. The four master workmen, water, 

 air, temperature and light, must all co-operate and work in harmony 

 if the plant is to reach a perfect growth. 



Clay. 



l-500Cth to l-2500Oth In. 



Fine Silt. 

 l-2500th to l-SOOOth in. 



Silt. 

 1-BOOth to l-2500th In. 



Very Fine Sand. 

 l-250th to l-500th In. 



Fine Sand. 

 1-lOOth to l-250th in. 



Fig. 1. 



All of these are important, but it is mainly about the work of the 

 water in the soil that we are to consider now. The soil, as you 

 know, is simply rock of varying sizes, from one-twenty-five-thou- 

 sandth of an inch in diameter to one-fiftieth of an inch, or from 

 the size of the finest clay particle to that of medium sand. Figure 1 

 shows the comparative sizes and classification made by the Depart- 

 ment of Soils, United States Department of Agriculture, magnified 

 32.5 times. One particle of medium sand is equal in bulk to 6,000,000 

 of the finest clay particles, and the amount of surface on these 

 6,000,000 clay particles is .300 times greater than that on one par- 

 ticle of medium sand. As the water in the soil spreads itself in a 

 thin film over the surfaces of all the soil grains, the amount of sur- 

 face in a given bulk of soil is important. 



