260 
AGRICULTURE: ALWAY AND McDOLE 
Coarse sands exhibited a behavior very different from that of the 
loams. The ratio in the surface 6 inch section, even three months 
after one inch of water had been applied to the surface, was as high as 
6 or 7 while in the second foot it was only 1 . The field studies on coarse 
sands showed as high a final ratio as was observed in the laboratory 
experiments. 
The very limited studies on fine sands indicate that these occupy a 
position intermediate between the loams and the coarse sands, the ratio 
of the water-retaining capacity to the hygroscopic coefficient rising as 
the latter value falls. 
Field studies show that when loams, after rains sufficiently heavy 
to thoroughly moisten them, are protected from losses by evaporation 
and transpiration, they lose water by downward movement until the 
ratio of moisture content to hygroscopic coefficient lies between 1.8 
and about 2.5, and, accordingly, that on the uplands of dry-land re- 
gions this is the ratio to be expected in the deeper subsoil — the portion 
below the range of plant roots. 
A comparatively abrupt transition from the moistened soil to the 
thoroughly exhausted underlying layers, with ratios of 2 to 2.5 and 1 
to 1.1 respectively, is found even several months after liberal rains have 
fallen, if the subsoil to a considerable depth had previously been ex- 
hausted of available water. 
The moisture of the deeper subsoil will be able to move upward only 
so slowly and through such a short distance in a single season that it 
will be at most of no practical benefit to annual crops. To make use 
of any portion of the precipitation which penetrates beyond the reach 
of the roots of annual crops it will be necessary to follow such crops at 
intervals by deep-rooting perennials. 
Further experiments of a long-time character are necessary to definitely 
decide whether the deep subsoil may not in a decade or so contribute 
sufficient moisture to the subsoil within the reach of the roots of such 
perennials, 20 to 30 feet, to make such a contribution of some practical 
importance for such crops. 
This is a preliminary extract of a paper transmitted to the Journal 
of Agricultural Research. 
1 McGee, U. S. Dept. Agric, Bur. Soils, Bull. 93, 1913, (40). 
2 Cameron, The Soil Solution, 1911, (23). 
^ Rotmistrov, The nature of drouth according to the evidence of the Odessa Experiment Field, 
Odessa, 1913. 
*Rept. 84th Meeting Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1914, (641). 
