WATER PENETRATION IN GUMBO SOILS. 5 
The time taken for an inch of water to pass through these 3-inch 
layers of saturated soil was four hours for the first-foot sample and 
12 hours for the second-foot sample. These results show that water 
moves slowly in the saturated soil. The rate of movement in these 
samples is not the same as that under field conditions, because in 
the field the soil is confined and can not swell freely and is therefore 
more compact than the soil in these cans. 
RATE OF MOVEMENT OF WATER IN WET SOIL UNDER FIELD 
CONDITIONS. 
To determine at what rate water moves in the wet soil under field 
conditions, the following experiment was performed on a plat that 
had been fallow for several seasons. The soil in this plat was wet 
Fig. 1.—Diagram showing the method used to obtain samples of undisturbed soil from 
different depths by means of brass tubes. 
and compact to a depth of over 3 feet. Samples were taken by 
means of brass tubes 14 inches in diameter and 5 inches long, in the 
manner shown in an i: 
Kach of these tubes when removed was found to contain between 
2 and 24 inches of soil. After being removed, the tubes were im- 
mersed in water in order that they might become thoroughly mois- 
tened. They were then placed in an upright position on a blotter 
and filled with water. The rapidity with which water passed into 
the soil was then recorded. In the tubes containing the soils from 
the surface, water passed into the soil at the rate of about 1 inch 
in 12 hours. In all the others the rate was uniformly much slower. 
No differences in the rapidity of water movement were shown be- 
tween any of the samples taken at any of the various depths below 
