WATER PENETRATION IN GUMBO SOILS. 



The time taken for an inch of water to pass through these 3-inch 

 layers of saturated soil was four hours for the first-foot sample and 

 12 hours for the second-foot sample. These results show that water 

 moves slowly in the saturated soil. The rate of movement in these 

 samples is not the same as that under field conditions, because in 

 the field the soil is confined and can not swell freely and is therefore 

 more compact than the soil in these cans. 



RATE OF MOVEMENT OF WATER IN WET SOIL UNDER FIELD 



CONDITIONS. 



To determine at what rate water moves in the wet soil under field 

 conditions, the following experiment was performed on a plat that 

 had been fallow for several seasons. The soil in this plat was wet 



^scy/p^^ce 



I 

 /6 



3-^ 



1 



Fig. 1. 



-Diagram Hhowing the uiuthod used to obtain samples of undisturbed soil from 

 different depths by means of brass tubes. 



and compact to a depth of over 3 feet. Samples were taken by 

 means of brass tubes \\ inches in diameter and 5 inches long, in the 

 manner shown in figure 1. 



Each of these tubes when removed was found to contain between 

 2 and 2i inches of soil. After being removed, the tubes were im- 

 mersed in water in order that they might become thoi'oughly mois- 

 tened. They were then placed in an upright position on a bh)tter 

 and filled with watei'. The rapidity with which water passed into 

 the soil was then i-ecorded. In the tubes continuing the soils I'rom 

 the surface, water pas.sed into the soil at the late of about 1 inch 

 in 12 hours. In all the, oth(!r's the rate was unifoiirdy much sh)wer. 

 No flifFerena^s in the ra|)idity of water movcnKiut wei'ct shown be- 

 tween any of the samples taken at any of tlie various (K'pths Ijelow 



