SOILS PES 
Take two lamp chimneys or large tubes, tie a piece of muslin or netting 
over one end and into each of these receptacles put one of your samples, 
both of the same weight. Now pour water slowly upon each until it 
begins to drain from the bottom, measuring carefully the amount of 
water used. Note which soil has the greater power of absorbing moisture. 
Set the samples away to dry; weigh them every day to find out which 
has the greater power of retaining moisture. 
6. Effect of humus on the crop. — Find fields that have been manured 
within the last year or two and compare the crop with that on fields that 
have been farmed for many years without having the humus replenished. 
Report the difference to the class. 
7. How corn affects the soil. — Find fields on which corn or potatoes 
were grown the preceding year and learn about the yield. How do you 
account for the way corn or potatoes benefit the soil ? 
8. Water rising im the soil. — Take a wash basin and pile a small 
pyramid of sand in the middle of it. Then pour water into the basin 
and observe how rapidly it rises in the sand. We say this is due to 
“capillary action.” 
9. Surface mulch. — Fill two large tin cans with moist soil, putting 
the same weight into each, and packing it firmly. Then stir up and 
loosen the surface in one of them daily to a depth of an inch, leaving the 
other packed. At the end of a week or two, weigh them to see whether 
the surface mulch helps to retain the moisture. By looking at the soil 
two or three inches below the surface you may be able to see the difference. 
10. Air in the soil. — Drop lumps of earth into a pail of water and 
see the air bubbles rise; or immerse a small tin pail, can, or pot of 
earth in a larger pail of water and watch for the air bubbles. As the 
water penetrates the earth it crowds out the air. 
11. Need of air in the soil. — Take two pots full of clay soil. In 
one pot plant seeds when the soil is loose, mellow, and moist, and at 
the same time plant seeds in the other after wetting the soi] thoroughly 
and working or ‘‘puddling” it. Watch for results when the plants 
come up. 
12. Working soils when they are wet.— Take a sample of heavy 
clay soil and another of sandy soil. Stir and work them thoroughly 
with a hoe or garden trowel, while quite wet, and then put them away 
to dry. If the two soils are very different, the effect of working them 
will be different, — the clay may become “ puddled,”’ that is, the particles 
