28 
WATER REQUIREMENT OF PLANTS. 
Table XVII. — Influence of soil texture on the water requirements of certain crops at 
Logan, Utah, according to Wi'dtsoe (1909, p. .57). 
Number of trials. 
Water requirement. 
Crop. 
Sand. 
College 
loam. 
Sanpete 
clay. 
Clay. 
Sand. 
College 
loam. 
Sanpete 
clay. 
Clay. 
11 
2 
46 
15 
11 
10 
12 
2 
3 
5 
561 
2,017 
386 
546 
497 
843 
408 
658 
601 
Wheat... 
917 
LEATHER S EXPERIMENTS. 
Leather (1910, 1911) has investigated the water requirement of 
crops grown in several Indian soils. (See effect of fertilizing, Table 
XL, p. 52). The same crop sometimes showed a wide variation in its 
water requirement when grown in different soils. The water require- 
ment of wheat grown in different unfertilized soil types in 1909-10, 
for example, was found to be 582, 842, and 526. Other variables enter 
in most cases, however, so that Table XL must be referred to for the 
comparisons. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
The water requirement, according to the data presented, is affected 
by the kind of soil used. The factor influencing the water require- 
ment seems, however, to be plant food rather than the type of soil. 
The water requirement will be higher in a poor soil, whether it be 
sand or clay, than in a good soil. The data presented do not indicate 
that the water requirement is affected by soil texture alone, when 
plant food is equally available in the different soil types. 
EFFECT OF CULTIVATION ON THE WATER REQUIREMENT. 
SLESKIN'S EXPERIMENT. 
Sleskin (1908) conducted an experiment to determine the effect of 
cultivating the soil on the growth of the sugar beet. A portion of a 
uniform plat was covered with a layer of cement to prevent all loss of 
water by direct evaporation or gain by precipitation. Seventy-two 
stakes were driven into the ground where the beets were to be planted 
and the cement flowed in around these stakes. As soon as the cement 
had set, the stakes were withdrawn and the holes filled with sand. 
The beets were planted in these holes. The remaining portion of the 
plat was planted to beets, allowing the same distance between plants, 
and was given the best of cultivation. The results shown in Table 
XVIII indicate clearly that more dry matter was produced by the 
beets grown in the covered portion than in the open plat. The 
reduction in water content was less in the covered soil than in the 
exposed soil, notwithstanding the addition to the open plat of 1 1 inches 
of water in the form of rain. 
285 
