SOIL WATER: HOW IT is LOST 169 



it washes also the surface and carries away with it plant 

 food and a great deal of soil. It should be your aim to 

 keep the soil loose and mellow on the surface, so that 

 water may be absorbed freely and abundantly, and then 



A HOME-MADE ROLLER 



It does good work as a roller, and leaves the surface of the soil in such a way 

 that the water is prevented from escaping. This sort of roller must be run 

 crosswise the slope and not with it 



there will be enough to supply plants when the hot, dry 

 part of summer comes. 



The practical bearing is this : the surface of the soil 

 must be kept loose and open so that as rapidly as rain 

 falls it may be admitted into the upper soil, from whence it 

 can work gradually down to the great storehouse beneath, 

 to be held and preserved until later called into use. 



Surface breaking a help. This explains one helpful 

 side of fall plowing: the stiff, hardened crust is broken 



