120 DRY-FARMING 
rainfall over the better dry-farming sections. The 
oretically, therefore, there is no reason why the rain- 
fall of one season or more could not be stored in the 
soil. Careful investigations have borne out this 
theory. Atkinson found, for example, at the Mon- 
tana Station, that soil, which to a depth of 9 feet 
contained 7.7 per cent of moisture in the fall con- 
tained 11.5 per cent in the spring and, after carrying 
it through the summer by proper methods of culti- 
vation, 11 per cent. 
It may certainly be concluded from this experi- 
ment that it is possible to carry over the soil 
moisture from season to season. The elaborate in- 
vestigations at the Utah Station have demonstrated 
that the winter precipitation, that is, the precipi- 
tation that comes during the wettest period of the 
year, may be retained in a large measure in the soil. 
Naturally, the amount of the natural precipitation 
accounted for in the upper eight feet will depend 
upon the dryness of the soil at the time the investi- 
gation commenced. If at the beginning of the wet 
season the upper eight feet of soil are fairly well 
stored with moisture, the precipitation will move 
down to even greater depths, beyond the reach of 
the soil auger. If, on the other hand, the soil is 
comparatively dry at the beginning of the season, 
the natural precipitation will distribute itself through 
the upper few feet, and thus be readily measured 
by the soil auger. 
