68 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATlOxV. [Jan. 



and correspondingly high in the remaining constituents, then 

 we possess a soil which is characteristic of the inland types, 

 and will pack down very closely when wet. If, however, 

 the reverse of this is true, we find a loose, pliable soil, such 

 as is found on the coast, which is easily worked and espe- 

 cially adapted for truck farming. The latter soil will not 

 retain much water, it quickly dries out ; while the former or 

 inland soil will retain considerable water for a long time, 

 inasmuch as the resistance and relative amount of water 

 maintained by different soils depends upon the volume of 

 space in the soil for the water to enter, which in turn depends 

 upon the number of grains of sand, silt and clay. In sandy 

 soils the space is not divided up as much as in a clay soil ; 

 the grains of sand being larger, the spaces between the grains 

 are also larger, there is less friction, and the water moves 

 downward more quickly. The order of arrangement of the 

 soils in Table IV. (which is that relative to the coarse material 

 they contain) follows very closely the water-retaining capacity 

 of the soils, as we shall see when we come to Table V. 



These are in part the principal difierences existing between 

 the coast and inland soil, with now and then an exception; 

 and the outbreak of the summer or injurious stage of the 

 asparagus rust is always characteristic of those soils which 

 are sandy and porous, and consequently possess little water- 

 retaining capacity, whether they are located near the coast 

 or inland. It should, however, be borne in mind that it is 

 not the percentage of coarse and fine material alone which is 

 responsible for the character of a soil, but the shape and ar- 

 rangement of its particles exert an influence upon it. Then, 

 again, the organic matter, the depth of the soil and the nature 

 of the sub-soil, as is well known, are important when the 

 question of moisture and dryness is concerned. We have 

 already pointed out that the four soils from the coast contain 

 less organic matter than those from inland soils, and this fact 

 holds good for the Montague sample also. If these soils 

 were richer in organic matter, their water-retaining proper- 

 ties would be increased, and they would become less suscep- 

 tible to the rust. 



In order to test the water-retaining properties of some of 

 these samples of soil, we subjected them to the following 



