120 DRY-FARMING 



rainfall over the better dry-farming sections. The- 

 oretically, therefore, there is no reason wh}' the rain- 

 fall of one season or more could not be stored in the 

 soil. Careful investigations liave 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 ]X'r cent in the spring and, after carrying 

 it through the summer ])y ])roper 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 ])reci]jitati(in, that is, the ])recipi- 

 tation that comes during the wettest period of the 

 year, may l:)e retained in a large measure in the soil. 

 Naturally, the amount of the natural i)reci])itation 

 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 uj^jjer eight teet of soil are fairly well 

 stored with moisture, the ].)reciiiitatii)n will move 

 down to even greater depths, Ijeyond the reach of 

 the soil auger. If, on the other hand, the soil is 

 comparatively dry at the l^eginning of the season, 

 the natural i3i'eci])itation will distribute itself through 

 the upper few feet, and thus be readily measured 

 by the soil auger. 



