1919] ALWAY, MCDOLE, &> TRUMBULL— SUBSOIL 195 



surface soil. January and February together had a precipitation 

 somewhat below normal at McCook, but above at both Wauneta 

 and Imperial, while March at all 3 places had a precipitation 2 or 3 

 times the normal. April was rainless until the 20th, between which 

 date and the 28th from 2 to 3 inches of rain fell. 



Samphng was carried out at McCook on May 7 and 8, no rain 

 having fallen since April 28; at Imperial on May 11, 13, and 14, 

 0.45 inch having fallen there in 4 light showers; and at Wauneta 

 on May 16 and 17. At the last place the only rain since April 28 

 had been one of o. 10 inch on May 10. Thus conditions had been 

 ideal for the downward movement of the water into the subsoil, 

 while at each place an interval of 8-19 days had elapsed between 

 the last good rain and the date of sampling. 



The generally favorable weather of autumn, winter, and spring 

 was evidenced by the circumstance that in the early spring the 

 outlook appeared unusually promising for the farmers. Wheat 

 had come through the winter in fine condition and preparations 

 were being made for seeding a large acreage to spring grains, the 

 prospects being considered so favorable that local merchants were 

 willing to furnish seed grain in return for a reasonable share of the 

 crop. Conditions appeared ideal for a study of the degree to which 

 the ratio in the surface soil had to be raised before water could 

 pass downward into the deeper portions of the subsoil, where during 

 the previous year the moisture had been reduced to the hygroscopic 

 coefficient or even slightly below. 



In the fields with heavier soil we found that the moisture content 

 had been distinctly affected at McCook (table VII) to only 2 ft., 

 at Wauneta in the one field to 3 ft., in the other to 4 ft. or more, 

 and in the only one sampled at Imperial to 5 ft. 



In normal seasons. — That the low ratios prevaihng throughout 

 the subsoil of the prairies after severe droughts, as illustrated in the 

 preceding tables, are not entirely absent even in favorable seasons, 

 may be seen from table VIII reporting conditions at the H. O. 

 Ranch. There, as at McCook, Wauneta, and Imperial, after periods 

 of drought the ratio was found not far from i . o at all depths, while 

 under more favorable conditions, as in July 1908, the low ratio was 

 still to be found at some level within the first 6 ft. 



