8 THE HANDBOOK FOR PRACTICAL FARMERS 



what happens when a hard rain falls on a loose mellow garden 

 soil and compare this with what happens when the same rain 

 falls on a hard path or other compacted soil. Thrifty farmers 

 try to keep their fields loose and mellow on the surface during 

 the growing season so that the soil will absorb and hold the 

 rainfall. 



The water that passes into the soil spreads out into a thin 

 film over the surface of the soil particles, the amount of moisture 

 retained depending upon the size of the individual grains and 



the surface which they 

 present. A light sandy 

 loam in good tilth will re- 

 tain in the surface three 

 feet about six inches of 

 rainfall; silt and clay 

 loams from eleven to fif- 

 teen inches, and a black 

 muck soil as much as sev- 

 enteen inches. Not all of 

 this moisture that is re- 

 tained is available to 

 plants because of the ten- 

 acity with which it is held 

 by the soil grains. In 

 hea^^" clays and clay 

 loams not more than half 

 of the moisture retained 

 is available, while in the 

 sandy loam a much larger 

 percentage can be util- 

 ized. 



The first duty of the 

 farmer is to keep his soil 

 in condition to absorb the 

 rainfall and then to prac- 

 tice a system of manage- 

 ment best calculated to 

 retain the moisture and 

 make it available to his 

 crops. Since coarse sandy soils are inclined to be lacking 

 in retentiveness, they should be kept as compact as possible. 

 Such soils are better plowed in the fall than in the spring, and 

 if humus is not being applied, shallow plowing is better than 



Fig. 3. — Soils that have a tendency to baku and 

 crack should have frequent shallow cultiva- 

 tion to conserve the moisture. 



