CHAPTER VI 

 Loss OF SOIL WATER 



LOSS OF SOIL WATER AND MEANS OF CHECKING 

 THE LOSS 



WE noticed in previous paragraphs that soil might 

 at times have too much water in it for proper ven- 

 tilation and so check the growth of the .roots of the 

 plant. Now is it possible that soil water may be 

 lost or wasted and if so can we check the loss ? 



In the experiment to find out how well the soils 

 would take in the rainfall (page 40) we noticed 

 that the clay soil took in the water very slowly and 

 that on a field of clay soil part of the rain water 

 would be likely to run off over the surface and 

 be lost. Free water may be lost then, by surface 

 wash. 



We noticed methods of checking this loss, namely, 

 pulverizing the soil with the tillage tools and putting 

 organic matter into it to make it absorb the rain 

 more readily. 



We noticed that water poured on the sand ran 

 through it very quickly and was apt to be lost by 

 leaching or percolation. This we found could be 

 checked by rolling the soil and by putting organic 

 matter into it to close the pores. 



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