STORING RAINFALL IN THE SOIL 



121 



In the Utah investigations it was found that of the 

 water which fell as rain and snow during the winter, 

 as high as 95 1 per cent was found stored in the hrst 

 eight feet of soil at the beginning of the growing 

 season. Naturally, much smaller percentages were 

 also found, but on an average, in soils somewhat 

 dry at the beginning of the dry season, more than 

 three fourths of the natural precipitation was found 

 stored in the soil in the spring. The following table 

 shows some of these summary I'esults : — 



Proportion of Rainfall Stored in thpj Soil 



While the results exhibited in the aljove table were 

 all obtained in a locality where the bulk of the 

 precipitation comes in the winter, yet similar results 

 would undoubtedly be obtained where the precipi- 

 tation occurs mainly in the summer. The storage 

 of water in the soil cannot be a whit less important 

 on the Great Plains than in the Great Basin. In 



