PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE 



nish more if there is too little. Agricultural plants are 

 damaged more by dryness than in all other ways together. 

 Providing for their proper supply of water, if they have 

 too little, is therefore the farmer's most important single 

 task. 



Effect of too much Water. We have already learned, in the 

 chapter on the soil, that the soil is made of fine particles, 

 each of which is surrounded by a very thin film of water. 

 Between these particles, with their films of water, the soil 



also contains air. Too much 

 water in the soil displaces 

 the air. The roots of most 

 plants must breathe free air, 

 just as we must, and they 

 die if there is no free air in 

 the ground, just as men 

 drown if they are too long 

 under water. The only 

 Philippine agricultural 

 plants which can live in soil 

 full of water are rice and 

 gabi. Cacao also can live 



longer than most plants without free air in the soil. If 

 soil is too wet, it is usually easy to drain it by digging 

 ditches for the water to run out. Ground which is 

 always low and wet should be drained by permanent 

 canals. Narrow, temporary ditches, quickly made and 

 easy to fill up, often make it possible to use during the 

 rainy season gardens otherwise too wet for any use. 



FIG, 29. Particles of soil (a) surrounded by 

 air (2>) and water (c) 



