92 THE BEGINNER'S GARDEN BOOK 



Thus when, after a rain, the free water has drained away, 

 the film water, remaining, tends to climb upward as we have 

 seen it do from the pan. It will keep on climbing as fast as 

 it dries away at the top, and so will finally dry out. That is 

 bad for any garden, but it can be prevented. To find out 

 how, take four flower pots, and fill them with wet soil to 

 within an inch and a half of the top. Now fill the first 

 entirely full with the same soil, packing the surface as rain 

 would do. Into the second put more soil, but loosely, and 

 keep it loose by stirring, so that the water shall not come up 



FIG. 53. A foot print in mulched soil. Capillarity and drying 

 are rapid where the shoe has packed the earth. 



from below. This covering of loose soil will presently 

 become dry. Into the top of the third put an inch and a half 

 of very fine rotted manure, or chopped straw, or even bran. 

 Cover the fourth closely with a piece of waxed cardboard, 

 cut to fit the pot. Now weigh all the pots, and continue to 

 weigh them once or twice daily for three or four days. Re- 

 cord the weights, and finally compare them. The first pot 

 has dried fastest of all, the last the slowest. 



It is probably plain that if we could cover the surfaces of our 

 gardens with rubber sheets, or boards (have you ever noticed 

 that the bare earth beneath a board is always damp?), or 

 something else which, like our waxed cardboard, will not let 

 the water out, the soil would dry only by evaporation from 



