CAPILLARY MOVEMENT OF SOIL MOISTURE. 
21 
100, maintain a rather uniform percentage of moisture throughout 
the 30 days. (The distribution of this moisture throughout the col- 
umn will be given later.) At the end of 62 days flume 63 contained 
in the wet soil by volume 47 per cent of water, or a little less than at 
the end of 30 days. At the end of 44 days flume 100 contained by 
volume 29.8 per cent of water, or about the same percentage contained 
for the first 30 days. 
Table 8. — Percentage, by volume, of water in tvetted soil at end of time specified. 
Number 
of days. 
Flume. 
19 
43 
63 
80 
100 
209 
1 
2 
3 
4 
10 
20 
30 
Per cent. 
25.7 
24.0 
23.9 
23.1 
22.3 
22.0 
21.8 
Per cent. 
27.2 
32.2 
31.0 
30.5 
28.0 
29.4 
28.8 
Per cent. 
42.6 
45.0 
44.3 
Per cent. 
15.3 
15.6 
19.9 
19.3 
19.9 
19.4 
20.6 
Per cent. 
30.0 
28.6 
30.6 
32.0 
30.3 
29.0 
29.6 
Per cent. 
18.0 
16.9 
16.1 
15.8 
48.2 
51.7 
' 50.0 
14.5 
Table 8 would indicate further that capillary action must take 
place much slower in heavy soils than in light soils, due to the rela- 
tively higher percentage of moisture in the heavy soils at all points 
in the column. It takes a higher relative percentage of moisture 
in the heavy soils to permit the advance of moisture from a damp 
to a dry soil by capillary action. The lighter soils will contain a rela- 
tively smaller percentage of moisture in the very extremity of the 
wetted area as it advances than will the heavier soils. 
DISTRIBUTION OF SOIL MOISTURE IN VERTICAL SOIL COLUMNS. 
The distribution of moisture in a vertical column of soil, the lower 
end of which is in contact with a body of water (9) , has received con- 
siderable attention in these experi- 
ments. The study has included the dis- Table 9.— Distribution of mois- 
, .-. ■ , . P ., . , ,n ,. ture in vertical soil columns. 
tn button tor the various lengths ot 
time up to and including 40 days. In 
Table 9 is given the distribution in two 
vertical columns for periods of 30 days, 
or after the column has been in contact 
with the water for a period of 30 days. 
Flume 43 is Riverside soil No, 1, and 
flume 63 is the Whittier soil. Flume 
63 was closed to evaporation, while 
flume 43 was open upon one side, and 
the soil is held in place b}^ brass-wire 
gauze. 
The figures show that the decrease 
in the percentage of moisture from 
the water surface to the upper extremity of the wetted area is 
not uniform. In flume 43, the greatest percentage of moisture is 
Distance 
above 
Riverside 
Whittier 
water 
soil No. 1: 
soil: 
level 
Flume 43. 
Flume 63. 
(inches). 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
1 
17.40 
43.74 
3 
17.40 
45.53 
G 
20.44 
40.25 
9 
18.84 
40.70 
12 
12.67 
40.84 
15 
18 
. 38.11 
33.49 
12.65 
21 
24 
34.75 
30.82 
12.44 
28 
30 
24.59 
10.15 
31 
36 
5.59 
4. CO 
6.33 
