Thorough Tillage System eor Plains oe Colorado. 19 
where the grains or granules are in contact or nearly so and seeks 
to extend in. all directions. If a dish be filled with soil composed of 
grains and this soil be rounded up into a cone, one can get some 
conception of this capillary action of the water in the soils of our 
fields. 
Pour water slowly into the dish and it will be observed that 
soon this water is drawn quite a distance upward from the base of 
the cone, as shown in diagram. Place two rectangular pieces of 
window glass in a basin of water so that two edges of the glass 
plates touch. It will be observed that where the edges are in con¬ 
tact with each other is where the water rises higher than anywhere 
else on the plates. 
COLO. AG. EXPT. 6TA. 
FIGURE 4. 
(From First Book of Farming.) 
a. Saturated soil-water drawn up by capillary action from bottom of 
basin. 
b. Dry soil. 
FIGURE 5. 
a-b. Water line between glass pfates. 
This action is also clearly shown by the diagram used by many 
text books in physics. Place several glass tubes varying in size 
from a quarter of an inch in diameter to as small a tube as you 
can obtain, with one end of each tube in a basin of water. It will 
