Subsoiling to Conserve Moisture 135 



It will thus be seen that the subsoiled ground, 

 under conditions where no evaporation could take place 

 from the surface, had not only retained all the water 

 which had been added to it, but that it had actually 

 gained by capillarity from the adjacent soil 14.24 

 pounds additional. The ground not subsoiled, on the 

 other hand, had actually lost, without evaporation from 

 the surface of the soil, 126.1 pounds of water. 



In a second experiment, which was handled in the 

 same way, except that no water was added to the sur- 

 face, the treated soil was allowed to stand from June 

 26 to July 2, covered so that no evaporation could 

 take place from the surface, the object being to learn 

 whether capillary action would draw moisture from 

 below into the subsoiled earth, and thus increase its 

 water supply. The changes which took place are 

 shown by the following figures : 



ON SUBSOILED GROUND 

 1st foot 2nd foot 3rd foot 4th foot 5th foot 



PER CENT PER CENT PER CENT PER CENT PER CENT 



June26( M f ois t tur f e } 23.29 21.89 17.85 14.14 19.55 



( HL Start ) , 



July 2 5 22 ' 66 22>5 17 ' 49 14 ' 45 20 ' 27 



Change ..... - .63 , + .61 - .36 + .31 + .72 



ON GROUND NOT SUBSOILED 



June 26 start ... 22.52 20.67 17.74 15.06 19.34 



July 2 close. .... 23.97 22.09 18.92 14.62 18.38 



Change +1.45 +1.32 +1.18 .44 .96 



It appears from these results that there was but 



