CAPILLARY MOVEMENT OF SOIL MOISTURE. 
29 
FLUMES INCLINED DOWNWARD FROM THE HORIZONTAL. 
The flumes in which, it was intended that gravity should assist the 
capillary movement of moisture were inclined downward at various 
angles from the horizontal. In all the flumes inclined in this way 
the movement of the moisture and the amount of water used were 
greater than for the horizontal flumes or the flumes inclined upward 
from the horizontal. The extent to which water would move in the 
inclined flumes where the inclination downward was 10 degrees or 
more was, in most cases, beyond the limits of the equipment used. 
Most of the experiments were carried to such an extent as to warrant 
certain conclusions. The extent of this movement in the open flumes 
appears to be limited not by the friction factors, but by the power of 
the wick to supply moisture in sufficient quantity to take care of 
the evaporation from the flume. That is, were evaporation elimi- 
nated, the extent of movement in the flumes inclined downward at 
angles greater than 30 degrees, except for the very heavy soils, would 
be far beyond experimental limits. In the case of the very heavy soils, 
as typified by the Whittier type, there were indications that in the 
less steeply inclined flumes friction played its part here as well as 
in the horizontal flumes. 
In distribution of moisture there are found some differences be- 
tween these flumes and either the vertical or the horizontal ; and, as 
will be shown later free water was developed in the flumes inclined 
downward. 
SOILS L T SED. 
Table 16 gives the numbers of the flumes and the soil contained in 
each : 
Table 16. — Soils in flumes inclined doicniceird. 
Number 
of flume. 
Description. 
4 
34 
54 
74 
94 
204 
Decomposed granite soil from Riverside, Calif. 
Decomposed granite and clay from Riverside, Calif. 
Heavy clay soil from Whittier, Calif. 
Sand and gravel soil from Uplands, Calif. 
Lava ash from Idaho. 
Sandy soil from Idaho. 
Figure 4 gives the dates and measurements for the movement 
of moisture in flumes inclined at an angle of 30 degrees and open on 
top to evaporation. The horizontal element is the time and the 
vertical element the distance in inches. 
