OBSERVATIONS ON SOIL MOISTURE. 179 



OBSERVATIONS ON SOIL MOISTURE. 



E. A. EMERSON. 



During the past summer, the Department of Horticulture of the 

 University of Nebraska conducted some experiments to show the 

 amount of water retained in garden and orchard soils by different 

 modes of treatment. 



To determine the per cent of moisture in the soil, small samples of 

 the soil were taken and the water driven off by heat. In every case 

 soil samples were taken at the depths of six, twelve, and twenty inches, 

 the samples from these three depths forming a "set." In every case 

 two sets, and in some cases three sets, were taken at the same time in 

 different parts of the plot whose moisture was to be determined. The 

 average of these six or nine samples is taken as representing approxi- 

 mately the per cent of moisture of the first twenty-four inches of the 

 soil of the whole plot at the time of taking the samples, and these 

 averages are alone given in all the per cents of moisture below. 



CULTIVATION VS. SEEDING OF ORCHARDS. 



The apple orchard on the Experiment Station farm was divided 

 lengthwise into three parts, each part being about eight rods wide. 

 Tlie middle part was plowed in the spring, and was cultivated to a 

 depth of about four inches about every two weeks during the summer, 

 eleven cultivations in all. The part of the orchard on one side of this 

 cultivated part was left in grass and weeds. This part was mowed 

 two times during the summer. The part of the orchard on the other 

 side of the cultivated part was also left in grass and weeds, but was 

 used as a hog pasture. The hogs kept the weeds down fairly well. 



On August 26 and October 19 the per cent of soil moisture was de- 

 termined, as above described, for each of these parts of the orchard, 

 nine samples being taken from each part on each date. The per cent 

 of moisture of each part is given in the diagrams (Figs. 1 and 2). 

 The difference in moisture in favor of the cultivated partis even more 



