1012. 
‘THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
827 
WATER AS A FACTOR IN AGRICULTURE. 
How Can We Nearest Approach the Optimum 
Moisture Condition? 
Part II. 
In view of the tremendous draft made on the soil 
water by a large crop, and of the limited water retain¬ 
ing powers of soils, it would seem that the problem 
of holding the water content at a high point during 
the growing season would be, for most soils and lo¬ 
cations, a very difficult task; and so, in practice, we 
find it to be. The fact is that we commonly submit 
to decreased yields because we cannot keep the amount 
of moisture high enough for best production. We 
shall deal briefly this week with the condition in 
which the water exists in the soil, how it moves, and 
the effect of the physical condition of 
the soil on its retention and delivery to 
plants. 
Water may exist free on the surface, 
free in the pores, or it may exist as 
capillary moisture. It is in this last 
condition that it is most valuable to 
plants. In fact, the presence of free 
water in the soil prevents aeration of 
the soil, and the roots of most plants 
will not penetrate it because they need 
air. Capillary moisture, on the other 
hand, is that moisture which clings to 
the surface of the soil particles and fills 
only the spaces which are very small, or 
of “capillary” size. It permits a com¬ 
paratively free circulation of air. In 
considering the movement of water in 
the soil, two influences, gravity and cap¬ 
illarity, demand our attention. Gravity 
is the only force which causes motion 
in free water. In obedience to this 
force we have streams of water both 
above and below the surface of the 
ground, and we also have percolation 
through the soil. We desire to limit the 
flow of water in streams as much as we 
can, and to promote its percolation and 
storage for future use of the plant. A 
stream over the surface of cultivated 
ground is always a detriment. It dis¬ 
solves and carries away much of the 
available plant food, and removes bodily 
a great deal of the richest portion of the 
productive soil layer. 
Capillary moisture, on the other hand, 
responds to the influence of capillarity; 
and under that influence may and does 
move in any direction. As the supply 
of moisture decreases in any portion of 
the soil, more water takes its place. In 
this way the water which is removed 
from the surface by evaporation is con¬ 
stantly replaced from below. The free 
water which occupies the pores of all 
soils (except that of deserts, possibly,) 
after a certain depth is reached, becomes 
thus the reservoir which keeps up the 
supply of capillary moisture in the 
upper layers of soil. It is very im¬ 
portant that the level of this reservoir 
be maintained permanently at the proper 
depth throughout the growing season. 
It should not be too near the surface in 
the early Spring, because then plants 
cannot root deeply, and it should not 
go too low in Summer because then the 
water cannot be drawn up by capillarity 
rapidly enough for vigorous plant 
growth. A high water table in the 
Spring followed by a Summer drought 
always checks the farmer’s hope of a 
large crop. 
We come now to the consideration 
of the effect of the physical condition 
of the soil on the amount of water it 
will retain and deliver to plants growing in it. It 
should be borne in mind here very strongly that 
the most important point in regard to a soil is 
not how much water it can retain, but how much it 
can deliver to plants. Three* general types of soils are 
usually recognized. They depend primarily on the 
size of the particles making them up, and their be¬ 
havior in regard to water is fairly typical in each case. 
Soils in which the larger particles predominate are 
known as sandy soils. Such soils do not retain a 
great deal of water, but what is retained they deliver 
to vegetation very readily. Soils in which particles 
next smaller predominate or which are made up of a 
judicious mixture of all sizes are known as loams. 
Loams retain a larger amount of water, but give it 
up more charily. Soils made up chiefly of the small¬ 
est particles are the clays. They retain the most 
water of the three, but they give it up the least read¬ 
ily, so that it may happen that a sandy soil will yield 
more water to plants than will a clay. Muck soils 
are outside this classification. They contain a great 
deal of organic matter, are often sour, and hold water 
tenaciously. Probably the best soil for most pur¬ 
poses is an easily worked loam, especially if it be 
made up of a good mixture of all three sizes of par¬ 
ticles. In the case of the clays and finer loams there 
is a tendency for the particles to pack so closely to¬ 
gether and partially cement as the result of wetting 
that nearly all pores larger than capillary size are 
TRANSPLANTED NORTHERNERS TN ALABAMA. Fig. 347 
A SOD HOUSE IN NEW MEXICO. Fig. 348. 
•‘A LITTLE MORE SLUMBER.” Fig. 349. 
tilled up. The result is that percolation is very seri¬ 
ously checked or even almost stopped, aeration of the 
soil hindered, root penetration largely prevented, and 
capillarity increased to such a degree that as the 
rapid drying of the soil takes place at the surface, 
more water is quickly brought up. In this way, the 
deep drying out of the soil is made very rapid. More¬ 
over, when rains fall, they cannot be absorbed and 
percolate quickly; and consequently must flow over 
the surface, making gullies and ravines. It sometimes 
happens, however, that several small particles become 
grouped together into a larger one. The clay then 
shows a somewhat granular structure, and acts some¬ 
what more like a sandy soil. This condition favors 
the absorption of water and its delivery to the roots 
of plants. Some of the things which ordinarily favor 
this condition are lime, humus, drainage and proper 
cultivation. The physical structure of the soil, then, 
has. an important influence on the amount of water 
delivered to plants. We want a soil to have large 
absorption powers and to give up to plants readily the 
water absorbed, so that it may be available at the 
time most needed. Many adverse influences are likely 
to confront the farmer during an ordinary season. 
We have thus far considered the importance of the 
best moisture condition for crops, what that condition 
is, how water acts in the soil, and how the physical 
structure of soils affects these conditions. Next week 
we shall take up some of the specific practices used in 
controlling the water supply of csops. 
Indiana. h. e. mern. 
9 
TREE LIARS AT LARGE. 
Every year it is necessary to tell the 
story of the tree liars. This time they 
are in Wabash Co., Ind. Our report 
follows: 
A very slick-tongued gentleman has been 
making visits to this county lately, landing 
orders for a nursery at Greenfield, Ind. lie 
calls himself the general manager, and sells 
only peach trees (an old-fashioned seedling 
he calls them), for 00 cents each, and on 
orders amounting to .$150 he gives one-half 
the trees and agrees to prune for three 
years and take half the crop for his pay. 
He further agrees to furnish a buyer for 
the fruit for all time, and agrees to refund 
all money paid for the trees if they do not 
yield 35 to 50 cents per tree the second 
year, and claims his trees are immune from 
all fungus diseases or insects. The trees 
sold in tliis county amount to thousands 
of dollars. It seems he has sold one orchard 
that is growing as a thrifty seedling will, 
and has pruned it as he agreed. His! claim 
for thi> fruit is that it will be seven to nine 
inches in circumference, and many more ex¬ 
travagant claims. Many of my neighbors 
and friends have given orders to be deliv¬ 
ered and paid for this Fall. Some feel 
that possibly they have been swindled; 
others have great faith in the claims of 
the agent for the seedling trees. e. t. m. 
With tins came a sample contract. 
This contains the following in fine type: 
“No verbal agreement or alteration in 
the printed matter of this contract is 
binding." According to that the agent 
might tell bis big story or even write a 
statement on the back of the contract, 
yet the buyer would be held to the 
printed statement. We asked for fur¬ 
ther particulars and received the fol¬ 
lowing ; 
There were two men, and they took dinner 
with tile victim, thus allowing him two 
seedling trees free. One of the men intro¬ 
duces himself as the agent of the nursery 
company at Greenfield. After talking and 
asking if he did not see him at the World’s 
Fair where they had their fruit on exhibi¬ 
tion, etc., he goes out to the buggy and 
brings in the other man, whom he intro¬ 
duces as the general manager, and he be¬ 
gins his tale, and as one of my neighbors 
put it, ‘'He just had me tasting the big 
luscious peaches, cherries, etc.” Then they 
would prune the trees every year and send 
a man down to pick the fruit and buy it 
there, and if the second crop on trees two 
years set did not net 35 to 50 cents per 
tree they would refund the price paid for 
the trees. This latter part is written on 
tlie back of one of my neighbor’s orders 
in the form of a contract, which is not 
signed; it is also written on that if he 
ever has occasion to use a spray on the 
trees for fungus or insects they will refund 
the price of the trees. Some men four or five 
miles from me have ordered as high as 1,000 
trees at GO cents each, they (the agents)' 
to furnish one-half of tVees. 
We do not print the name of this 
nursery company now. Our reports of 
them vary. They are reputed to Rave fair credit and 
general reputation. They write us that they do not 
employ general agents at present, hut that they sell 
to dealers who may tell those large stories. Green¬ 
field, Ind., has a bad .reputation as a nursery center— 
it appears that there is a crowd of sharpers located 
there—enough to discredit any community. Right 
when these frauds are selling trees at 60 cents each, 
reliable home nurserymen are selling standard varie¬ 
ties of peaches, budded from bearing trees, at $12 per 
100! Such trees are guaranteed true to name. Each 
year at this season it is necessary to go over this old 
fake scheme of selling trees. Any man who claims 
such superiority in size or flavor, or who says his trees 
are immune to insects or disease, is a liar pure and 
simple, and it should be known as such. 
