L>18 7:Vr yP'MAX A GIUCUL TL'JtK 



ant o them is the power of the soil to absorb and retain 

 water. 



In a country provided with a good system of irrigation 

 this assumes less importance than in less favoured 

 countries, where crops are entirely dependent upon 

 rainfall. The more vegetable matter a soil contains, the 

 greater is the quantity of water it can absorb : while, 

 again, a clay will naturally possess greater power in this 

 respect than a sandy soil. Soils of the latter nature, which 

 would be very unproductive in a country dependent upon 

 rainfall, are much more fertile in an irrigated country, 

 though they require heavier applications of water. The 

 power of absorption of a soil to a certain extent depends 

 on the fineness of its particles, the amount of water which 

 a soil can hold up being in inverse ratio to the size of its 

 pores. Up to a certain point, the more finely a soil is 

 pulverised, the greater the amount of water absorbed. 



Closely related to the power of absorption is the power 

 of retention. If long periods have to elapse between 

 waterings, it follows that, other things being equal, the 

 more water the soil can store up the more fertile it will 

 be. The two properties of absorption and retention go, 

 practically speaking, hand in hand: that is to say, the 

 more water a soil can absorb, the more it can retain. Soils 

 may possess these properties to even an injurious extent. 

 There are for example some very dense clays in Egypt, 

 which do not get rid of the excess of water applied 

 sufficiently readily. They thus become sour and cold, 

 conditions detrimental to the production of good crops. 

 This fact is unfortunately not sufficiently recognised, and 



