THE SOIL 15 



You can see how the water rises in the soil by perform- 

 ing a simple experiment. 



EXPERIMENT 



Take a lamp chimney and fill it with dry, fine dirt. The dirt 

 from a road or a field will do. Tie over the bottom of the lamp 

 chimney a piece of cloth or a pocket handkerchief, and place this 

 end in a shallow pan of water. If the soil in the lamp chimney is 

 clay and well packed, the water will quickly rise to the top. 



By filling three or four lamp chimneys with as many different soils, 

 the pupil will see that the water rises more slowly in some than in 

 others. 



Now take the water pans away, and the water in the lamp chim- 

 neys will gradually evaporate. Study for a few days the effect of 

 this evaporation on the several soils. 



SECTION V DRAINING THE SOIL 



A wise man was once asked, "What is the most valu- 

 able improvement ever made in agriculture ? " He answered, 

 "Drainage." Often soils unfit for crop production because 

 of the free water in them are by drainage rendered the 

 most valuable of farming land. 



The benefits of drainage are as follows : 



1. It deepens the subsoil by removing unnecessary water 

 from the spaces between the soil particles. This admits 

 air. Then the oxygen which is in the air, by aiding decay, 

 prepares plant food for vegetation. 



2. It makes the surface, or topsoil, deeper. It stands 

 to reason that the deeper the soil the more plant food 

 becomes available for plant use. 



