SOIL WATER j r 7 



*J / 



If the plowing is not well done or if the land is 

 too dry when plowed and the soil is left in great 

 coarse lumps and clods, the air circulates readily 

 among the clods and takes from them what little 

 moisture they may have had and generally the soil 

 is left in a worse condition than if it had not been 

 plowed at all. 



Fall plowing on rolling land and heavy soil leav- 

 ing the surface rough helps to hold winter snows 

 and rains when they fall, giving to such fields a 

 more even distribution of soil water in the spring. 



Spring plowing should be done early, before there 

 is much loss of water from the surface by evapora- 

 tion. 



Professor King, of the University of Wisconsin 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, carried on an ex- 

 periment to see how much soil water could be saved 

 by early plowing. He selected two similar pieces of 

 ground near each other and tested them for water 

 April 29th. Immediately after testing one piece was 

 plowed. Seven days later, May 6th, he tested them 

 for water again and found that both had lost some 

 water, but that the piece which was not plowed had 

 lost 9.13 pounds more water per square foot of sur- 

 face than the plowed piece. This means that by 

 plowing one part a week earlier than the other he 

 saved in it water equal to a rainfall of nearly two 

 inches or at the rate of nearly 200 tons of water 

 per acre. 



