10 AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS 



SECTION III THE MOISTURE OF THE SOIL 



Did any one ever explain to you how important water is 

 to the soil or tell you why it is so important? Often, as 

 you know, crops entirely fail because there is not enough 

 water in the soil for the plants to drink. How necessary 

 is it, then, that the soil be kept in the best possible con- 

 dition to catch and hold enough water to carry the plant 

 through dry, hot spells ! Perhaps you are ready to ask, 

 "How does the mouthless plant drink its stored-up water? " 



The plant gets all its water through its roots. You 

 have seen the tiny fibrous roots of a plant spreading all 

 about in fine soil ; they are down in the ground taking up 

 plant food and water for the stalk and leaves above. The 

 water, carrying plant food with it, rises, by means of a 

 peculiar process, through roots and stems. 



The plants use the food for building new tissue, that is, 

 for growth. The water passes out through the leaves into 

 the air. When the summers are dry and hot and there 

 is but little water in the soil, the leaves shrink up. This 

 is simply a method they have of keeping the water from 

 passing rapidly off into the air. I am sure you have seen 

 the corn stalks all shriveled on very hot days. This 

 shrinkage is nature's way of diminishing the current of 

 water that is steadily passing through the plant. 



A thrifty farmer will try to keep his soil in such good 

 condition that it will have a supply of water in it for growing 

 crops when dry and hot weather comes. He can do this 

 by deep plowing, by subsoiling, by adding any kind of 

 decaying vegetable matter to the soil, and by growing 

 crops that can be tilled frequently. 



