[II.] 



HYGROSCOPIC MOISTURE 



95 



:o wilt before the soil has parted with all its moisture. 

 When wilting began with a sandy soil the sand in the 

 Dot still contained 1-5 per cent, of water, with a clay 

 ;oil 8 per cent, of water ; with a mixture of sand and 

 lumus there was as much as 12-3 per cent, of water 

 etained by the soil. Heinrich has also shown that 

 lilting begins before the water content of the soil has 

 jeen reduced to the hygroscopic water limit, as the 

 bllowing figures demonstrate 



King has made some observations of the amount 

 f water still present in soils in the field which had 

 lecome so dry that growth was at a standstill and the 

 )lants were wilting. 



Under these conditions all the soils were about 

 qually dry, so far as any power to part with their 

 , r ater went ; if the estimates made previously of the 

 rea of surface of the particles constituting various kinds 



