METHODS OF KEEPING MOISTURE 



the soil does not indicate how much plant growth that soil 

 will produce. Put pure nitrogen, potash and phosphorus on 

 a stone, a board or a lump of dry dirt, and the heap will not 

 produce anything, although it is exceedingly "rich and fertile." 

 You can pile fertilizer upon your acres by the ton, but you 

 must see that the soil is in a receptive condition before you 

 can hope to have the plant foods do their work. 



When the thirty-six inches of soil is made fine enough and 

 loose enough to hold the foot of water, it is in pretty good shape 

 to feed the roots. The water which surrounds every particle 

 of soil dissolves the crude elements, finishing the work of the 

 bacteria, and serves foods to the plants in digestible form. 

 Feeding roots need not touch all the food; if the water can 

 dissolve the food, it will bring it to the roots as it is needed. 

 Without enough moisture the soil would be hard and un- 

 friendly. Nothing is so important to the crop as water. Every 

 pint lacking means the loss of fruit. 



The right methods make it easy to keep all the water neces- 

 sary; with wrong methods, or no method, it is impossible to 

 have enough, unless rain falls every few days during the grow- 

 ing season, which seldom happens. Unlike other essentials, 

 the keeping of the necessary moisture does not cost much, 

 for this really is accomplished by work that should be done 

 in any circumstances. 



Ground that is hard on the surface and undisturbed below 

 cannot hold two inches of water in the first three feet. This 

 would be too little even for peaches. There is water more than 

 three feet down, of course, and some of this is brought up by 

 capillarity, but because of the compact earth there and the 

 distance from the feeding roots, little from this source ever 

 benefits the trees. 



Capillarity is the attraction which some substances have 

 for others. It causes a drop of water to cling to or run along the 

 bottom edge of a slanting board, rather than fall straight 

 down. It makes oil follow a wick up to a flame. Only when 

 capillarity is working well in the soil can evaporation steal 

 that vital nine inches of water from you. 



The example of the lamp-wick shows another force the 

 attraction of dryer air and sunshine for soil moisture. These 

 draw up water constantly, except for a few hours during nights 

 when heavy dew covers the ground. Even then the soil con- 

 tinues to send moisture to the surface, if it had been doing 

 that during the day, and the air must continue to absorb it, 

 as is shown by the fact that a wet cloth laid on the ground 

 during a damp evening will dry during the night. 



METHODS OF KEEPING MOISTURE 



Professor L. H. Bailey of the College of Agriculture of 

 New York has explained this subject so plainly that any one 

 can understand it. He says: 



"How shall we save the water? By holding it in the earth. 

 If the soil is very fine and yet compact, the capillary pores or 



XI 



