14 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



plowing and thorough fining of clay soils is absolutely essential in 

 intensive agriculture, all of which, lor best results, must be done be- 

 fore sowing or planting any crop. Alter the soil is thoroughly lined 

 and capillary action has been completely established between the 

 plowed soil and the subsoil, and a crop, so planted or sown, such as 

 coin, potatoes, some of the clovers or even wheat in the spring, that 

 cultivation can be kept up ; or tields prepared in this way and simply 

 allowed to lay bare to be planted later, another method of conserving 

 moisture, can be utilized by the farmer, that of making a surface 

 mulch by means of harrowing, by which the capillary action that 

 brings the moisture from the soil and subsoil is retarded on account 

 of the enlaigement of the spaces between the soil particles. This 

 surface mulch should not be more than two or three inches deep and 

 should be made with a harrow that will leave the soil comparatively 

 level. 



Soil moisture can also be conserved as Nature does by a covering of 

 organic matter such as straw, or by the right use of stable manure. 

 It has already been shown how soil moisture can be retained by 

 cultivation in the case of crops that can be cultivated, but frequently 

 it is necessary to conserve moisture on crops that cannot be culti- 

 vated, such as grass and here, if for no other reason, stable manure 

 should be applied to conserve soil moisture. The best use of stable 

 manure has been a subject of the greatest interest to the farmer, but 

 he seldom considers it from the point of conserving moisture. It is 

 necessary, however, only to refer to Nature's methods of conserving 

 moisture by the use of a surface mulch of organic matter, to shoAv 

 the application. The absorbents such as straw, corn-fodder, hay or 

 any other materials used for this purpose should be out into not more 

 than inch lengths because they will better absorb the excreta of the 

 animal, they can be more equally distributed on the soil, they will 

 form a more perfect surface mulch to prevent the escape of soil 

 moisture, they will decay more rapidly, will not be taken up by the 

 hay-rake and the fertility contained in the excreta and the absorbents 

 will be made available more rapidly. All these and more capacities 

 can best be attained by applying the stable manure on a grass sod 

 where it decomposes slowly and produces large quantities of roots 

 and vegetable growth to be used as feed for animals, to make more 

 manure or to be plowed down and the organic matter mixed with 

 the soil. This logically brings up the subject of addition of organic 

 matter to the soil, which is ona of Nature's methods of soil building, 

 while the other is rock disintegration. By the application of large 

 quantities of stable manure and by plowing down green crops and 

 heavy sods I have seen soils increased in depth and made capable 

 of holding such large quantities of water obtained from the snows of 

 the winter and the rains of the spring that they did not need the 

 summer shower to produce crops. These methods with the exception 

 of plowing, in the case of sandy soil, are applicable to all soils and 

 can be made the means of conserving sufficient moisture, even in a 

 season as dry as 1910, to produce better crops than if the season had 

 been too wet. The selection and management of crop rotations for 

 conserving moisture can best be done by the farmer acquainted with 

 the soil. 



Lime, gypsum and common salt assist in conserving soil moisture. 

 Lime on a fine clay soil by granulating it and on a sandy soil by com- 



