928 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



minimum, 0°, January 5, February 19, 21, 22; mean, 54°; total precipitation, 44.57 

 in.; melted snow, 7.04 in.; prevailing direction of wind, west. 



Weather record for 1896 at Newport, Arkansas (Arkansas Sia. Bpt. 1897, p. 

 100).— Reprinted from Bulletin 40 of the station (E. S. R., 9, p. 030). 



WATER— SOILS. 



Soil moisture, G. H. Failter and J. T. Willard (Kansas Sta. Bui. 

 (is, pp. 75-101, dgms. 9). — This is an account of observations on the moist- 

 ure content of different kinds of soil treated in different ways at the sta- 

 tion and at Garden City and Oakley, Kansas, during the summers of 

 1895 and 189(3. Daily determinations of moisture were made in plowed 

 ground and sod at Garden City from June to September, 1895, and at 

 Oakley during June and July, 1890. At both Garden City and Oakley, 

 the moisture content of plats which had been subsoiled and of those 

 which had not been subsoiled was determined. The effect of salt and 

 gypsum (at rates of 450 and 900 lbs. per acre) on the moisture content 

 of the soil was also tested at Garden City. The experiments at the 

 station included observations in the field on untreated plats and plats 

 treated as follows: (1) Cultivated to a depth of about 5 in. with a hoe; 

 (2) mulched with green grass and sorghum bagasse to a depth of 3 or 

 4 in.; (3) surface raked to a fine condition to a depth of an inch or more; 

 (4) sown thickly to sorghum broadcast; and observations on evapora- 

 tion from soils in galvanized iron pails 10.\ in. in diameter at the top 

 and 9j in. deep. The soils were treated as follows: 



"Pots 1, 2, 3, and 4 contained the soil unmixed "with other substances. No. 1 was 

 not treated in any way; No. 2 had the soil surface finely pulverized; No. 3 had the 

 soil surface coarsely pulverized; N<>. 4 was mulched. Pots 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were like 

 No. 1. except tbat No. 5 contained 1 per rent of lime; No. G, 1 per cent of gypsum; 

 No. 7, one-hundredth of 1 pel cent of common salt; No. 8, one-hundredth of 1 per 

 cent of magnesium chlorid ; No 9. 50 per cent of sand. 



"In addition to the above pots, we had one numbered 13 which contained soil as 

 in No. 1, but was supplied with water at the bottom by means of a cistern inclosing 

 the bottom of the pail. This cistern was soldered to the pail, could bo tilled by 

 means of a hole which was closed by a rubber stopper, and communicated with the 

 bottom of the soil through numerous holes over which lay a sheet of blotting paper. 

 The object of this experiment was to observe the rate of evaporation from a soil 

 kept wet by a continuous water supply. Later we added still another, No. 15, which 

 -was like No. 0, that is, half sand and half soil, except that it had the continu- 

 ous water supply as described above. The object in this case was to test further 

 the rate of evaporation from a sandy soil compared with one much less sandy. 



"The loss of water was determined by weighing the pots with their contents 

 daily, thus obviating the error that must be inherent to a less or greater degree in 

 any method of field sampling." 



The results of the experiments are given in tables and diagrams. 

 The principal results are summarized as follows: 



"Iu these trials, the undisturbed prairie sod, as compared with that which had 

 been brought under cultivation, was much drier in all cases, except following a 

 heavy rain. Iu this case, the part sampled of the sod. the upper portion, was about 





