Mar. 3,1923 
Effectiveness of Mulches upon Soil Moisture 
737 
Moisture samples taken from the Nephi substation to the depth of 6 
feet prove in every case that fall plowing preserves more moisture than 
spring plowing. The 4-inch cultivation is more efficient than the 2-inch, 
but the 6-inch cultivation drops off a little. The table also shows that 
cultivation is better than clean culture. 
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Fig. 4.—Diagram illustrating the growth of radishes as affected by cultivation, frequency of cultivation, 
straw mulch maintained at the depth of z inch, or no treatment, and also the percentage of water in the 
surface 6 inches of the soil. 
MOVEMENT OF SOIL MOISTURE UNDER MUECHES 
When soils of different moisture contents come into contact there is a 
movement of moisture from the thick films of water around the soil 
particles to the thin films, until equilibrium is reached. That is, water 
tends to move from the wet to the dry soils, and the influence of culti¬ 
vation can be proved indirectly by tracing the direction in which the 
soil moisture moves. At the Nephi substation, -j^acre plots were set 
aside for mulch experiments. The adjoining strip of land was neither 
mulched nor cultivated. Four borings to the depth of 6 feet were taken 
23 feet apart, from the middle of the plots to the adjoining unmulched 
land. 
