50 



THE OLIVE 



ing, the flowers fall off and the tree gives its strength to wood. 



The hygroscopicity of a soil, or the property of retaining moist- 

 ure, is of great value in a hot and dry country, It is well known 

 that the more a soil is manured and cultivated, the more moisture 

 it retains. The following table will show the percentage of water 

 contained in different soils. 



Water contained 

 m 100 parts 

 of earth 



Silicious sand 25 



Gypsum 27 



Calcareous sand 29 



Dry chalk , 40 



Chalk, somewhat more fertile 50 



Clay soil 60 



Clay, pure 70 



Calcareous soil 85 



Manure 1.90 



Garden soil 89 



Arable land 52 



The capacity to absorb humidity from the atmosi3here varies with 

 different soils. The following are the results of experiments. 



Gyps 



um . 



Clay 



Absorbs in 24 hours. 



.0 of water 



1.5 " 



u 



0.5 " 



u 



13.0 " 



it 



15.0 " 



a 



18.0 " 



a 



21.0 " 



u 



15.5 " 



u 



38.0 " 



(( 



48.5 " 



a 



22.5 " 



a 



11.0 " 



u 



