18 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



CHAPTER III.— Rain 



13. Work of Rain. — We learned in the last chapter 

 how rain clouds are formed; so now it is in order to 

 consider the work done by the falling of these clouds as 

 rain. Besides supplying water for our own use and for 

 the needs of our animals and crops, what does the rain 

 do on a farm ? 



14. Erosion, Land Washing. — Did you ever notice 

 how muddy all the creeks and rivers are after a heavy 

 rain, and did you ever stop to think where all this mud 

 comes from and where it is going? The gullies in the 

 hillsides should tell you where the mud comes from; 

 the sand bars and islands in the rivers and creeks tell 

 you where part of it has gone. The next time it rains 

 notice how the raindrops gather in low places into little 

 streams of water, which carry away particles of soil and 

 trash. As the rain becomes harder, more and more 

 water gathers in these little streams, and more particles 

 are moved along by them. These small particles of soil 

 and pieces of gravel rushed along by the water grind 

 each other into smaller fragments, loosen other par- 

 ticles from the soil, and so a gully grows in the hillside. 

 This making of gullies is called erosion. 



15. Sediment. — Now, where does the water carry the 

 soil and trash which it takes from the hillsides ? Follow 

 one of these little streams of water and you will see 

 that where it reaches level ground it moves more slowly 



