138 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
large, and if it is composed of very fine 
sand or clay loam, the tubes will be much 
smaller. Then, according to the law al¬ 
ready stated, the water will rise highest 
in the soil that is made up of the finest 
grains. This is well illustrated bv tying 
muslin cloth over the ends of glass tubes 
as described above, filling each tube with 
a different soil, and letting the ends of 
the tubes dip into a basin of water for 
a few days. The results of such an ex¬ 
periment are shown in diagram I. In the 
coarse sand from Saint Lucie county the 
which compose the Hillsboro county soil 
are one-half millimeter (about 1-50 inch) 
or less, in diameter. However, the odds 
are not all against the coarse soil. True, 
it does not lift the water so high as the 
finer soil, but neither does it allow this 
water to evaporate from the surface so 
rapidly. It has been shown that a mulch 
of coarse, dry sand is more effective in 
preventing surface evaporation than one 
of finely pulverized clay loam. 
Furthermore, we have shown by exper¬ 
iments similar to those already described 
TABLE I.—Showing Moisture in Cultivated and Uncultivated Land. 
(CALIFORNIA.) 
DEPTH OF SOIL 
CULTIVATED 
UNCULTIVATED 
Per cent. 
Tons 
Per Acre 
Per cent. 
Tons 
Per Acre 
First foot. 
6.4 
128 
4.3 
86 
Second foot. 
00 
LO 
116 
4.4 
88 
Third foot. 
6.4 
128 
3-9 
78 
Fourth foot. 
6.5 
130 
5 -i 
100 
Fifth foot. 
6.7 
134 
3-4 
68 
Sixth foot. 
6.0 
120 
4-5 
90 
Total fnr 6 ff 1 #*! . 
756 
51 2 
Difference in favor of Cultivation—244 Tons Per Acre. 
water rose in four and a half days to the 
height of eight and a half inches. In the 
moderately coarse soil from Alachua 
county it rose ten and a half inches in the 
same time; and in a very fine soil from 
Hillsboro county it rose sixteen inches in 
the same time. The tables which accom¬ 
pany this diagram show the relative 
amounts of the different sizes of soil 
grains in these three soils. It will be 
seen that over 99 per cent, of the particles 
that while a coarse, sandy soil (Alachua 
county soil) lifted water to a height of 
nineteen inches in sixty-eight days, the 
same soil when it had 4 per cent, of muck 
intimately mixed with it, lifted the water 
to the height of twenty-seven and a half 
inches in the same time. Stable manure, 
muck, cover crops, straw, or leaves, may 
be used to increase the capillary power of 
the soil. 
