THE PROPERTIES OF SOILS 71 



5. Determination of water in the soil. 



MATERIAL: Soil-auger i^ inches in diameter; pint Mason fruit jars; 

 a small piece of oilcloth ; a balance sensitive to o.i gram ; pie pans. 



Carefully remove a core of soil twelve inches deep with the soil-auger, 

 and transfer it to a piece of oilcloth, and then quickly to a pint Mason 

 jar, screwing on the top promptly to prevent the loss of moisture. 

 Insert the auger in the same hole and remove a core of the next 

 twelve inches of soil, placing it in another Mason jar in the same 

 manner. 



Take both jars to the laboratory and transfer the soil of each to 

 a weighed pie pan. Weigh moist soil and pan. Use a pair of scales 

 for this purpose sensitive to o.i gram. Dry in the air, preferably 

 in a warm place, such as over a radiator or near a stove, for several 

 days, until the soil ceases to lose weight. 



Calculate the per cent of water lost from the soil on the basis of 

 air-dried soil. 



Assuming that an acre-foot of soil weighs 4,000,000 pounds, cal- 

 culate the number of tons of water in the surface foot and second 

 foot in each case. 



REFERENCES 



BURKETT, C. W. Soils, chaps, ii, iv, xvii, xviii, and xxi. Orange Judd 



Company. 



FLETCHER, S. W. Soils, chaps, ii, iv-ix. Doubleday, Page & Company. 

 HOPKINS, C. G. Soil Fertility and Permanent Agriculture, chaps, v-vi. 



Ginn and Company. 

 HUNT, THOS. F. How to choose a Farm, chap. iv. The Macmillan 



Company. 

 KING, F. H. Irrigation and Drainage, chaps, ii-iii. The Macmillan 



Company. 



KING, F. H. The Soil, chaps, v-xi. The Macmillan Company. 

 LYON, T. L., and FIPPIN, E. O. Soils, pp. 133-210. The Macmillan 



Company. 

 VIVIAN, A. First Principles of Soil Fertility, chaps, vi-vii. Orange Judd 



Company. 

 Management of Soil to conserve Moisture, Farmers' Bulletin 266, United 



States Department of Agriculture. 



