CONCERNING THE TEXTURE OF THE SOIL 4! 



ural or artificial drains. You have this kind of water in 

 all wet places wherever water accumulates to leak or 

 drain away only with the slowest activity, or else not to 

 move at all. 



Capillary water represents the usual supply for the 

 growth of plants. It is the normal average the visible 

 water content of the soil. It is the remains of gravita- 

 tional water what is left behind in the upper soil and 

 held as films around particles and in the finer openings. 

 It is the water that is attracted and held fast by soil parti- 

 cles as its kind passed downward, enticed ever onward by 

 the force of gravitation. 



It is this capillary water that gathers up soluble plant 

 food scattered all about in the soil, that breaks into closed 

 storehouses where plant food is held, releases it that it 

 may be united with the rest, so that all may be delivered 

 within easy reach of the fibrous roots for plants to use for 

 food and growth. 



Capillary water is found in interspaces of the soil. 

 While its natural direction would be downward because 

 of gravitation, it really moves in the opposite direction, 

 since the pulling force of the drier particles is greater 

 upward. Hence, capillary water constantly moves from 

 moist regions into others less moist. The surface of the 

 land, being warmed by the sun and dried by the air, soon 

 loses its moisture through evaporation, calls to the lower 

 depths for more, and in this way replenishes its normal 

 supply. 



By this principle, soluble plant food that either existed 

 in the subsoil or that was carried there by gravitational 

 water, is now brought upward into the surface areas, 

 where grow plants' feeding roots, now to be used when 

 needed. 



The minimum moisture content of the soil is known as 



