1 68 SOILS 



the least bit wasted acts as a handicap for the coming 

 crop. Good farm practice aims to have and to hold the 

 surface of the soil in such condition that the whole of the 

 rain supply shall be received into it, and by gravitation 

 drawn to the lower regions where the water stores are 

 held and preserved. 



\Yhenever the surface of the soil is tight and stiff and 

 impervious, you may be sure that a good part of every 

 rain will never get into the soil, but will be lost by surface 

 drainage. And you must aim to get the rains of the entire 

 year; not those that come during the growing season, 

 only, but those of fall and winter and early spring, as well. 

 Often the summer rains fall far short of the plants' de- 

 mands, even though they are utilized in their entirety. 

 Good crops often are produced when the rainfall, during 

 the period of growth, is no more than a quarter of the 

 quantity demanded and used by the plant. This is possi- 

 ble solely for the reason that there has been got into the 

 soil a large part of the water that fell as rain earlier in the 

 season during the fall and winter months. 



It is not stating the facts too loosely to say that in 

 humid regions as much as 25 per cent, of the entire rain- 

 fall is lost to the soil, and for this reason : The streams 

 get it, because the surface crust acts so slowly in absorb- 

 ing the waters that come to it, the real amount obtained 

 being much less than what it ought to be. And the same 

 fault is applicable to semi-arid regions. While the loss 

 here is not so great, it is only because the rainfall is less 

 and the land more level and attractive to rain. A loss in 

 this way of 10 per cent. a most conservative estimate 

 means much, considering the fact that the average rain- 

 fall is but twenty inches annually. 



It will be worth your while to remember that the water 

 that runs off of the surface is not only lost to plants, but 



