Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-12-03
FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.
ITEMS or TIMELY INTEREST TO THE
FARMERS.
HOW CULTIVATION PRESERVES
TIE MOISTURE.


That cultivation of the upper crust
OF the soil tends to prevent evapora-
ton OF the moisture below is "A fact
that every practical farmer Is well
aware OF. II Is daily being proved in
actual practice. but tho scientific the
DRY upon which this is based Is little
understood. Men will tell you II Is SO,
but why they do not understand.
Now. il is well known that the soil
Is composed of irnumerable and inti-
niiely small particles. When the soil
IL dry each little parrlc.e is surrounded
by a vacuum or air space. Whenever
the particles come in contact with
moisture they have The power of at
iractlg that moisture and Of sur
rounding themselves with IA thin film
of wafer The particles next to the
water first draw the water around
themselves. then the dry particles next
10 them in turn attract Ii. and so Il con-
tinuous stream is set up. much in The
same way that a wick of lamp draws
up the oil. This goes on until the Whole
body of soil is saturated but as soon
as The water reaches the particles dl
the surface OF he soil this water
is cvan0rated. and The supply below Is
again drawn upon. until The water
stored below is so exhausted or left at
such Il depth that the distsnce over
comes he power of attraction, and the
soil becomes completely dry. This is
the process which goes OH in unculti-
waited soil.
The object of cultivation is 10 break
up this attraction. usually called capi-
larry attraction. in the upper crust and
so prevent the moisture from being
brought u the surface and evaporated
To understand how this is done. dle
must take into account another scien-
tiiic fact. and that is that il these little
particles in the soil he widely separated
from each other they lose their power
Of attraction. Now, when the top crust
OF the soil Is loo.ened and reduced To Il
fine filth, these particles lie less closely
together and Ito not attract moisture
from below. The moisture now rises
as high as The upper t.iih. and there re-
mains 10 II much longer extent than in
The case OF untitled soil, for owing TO
the blanket or mulch of loose soil on
the top, the soil below the surface is
much less exposed TO the action OF
evaporation.
Some of our farmers here are unwill-
Nlg TO accept the above theory, ;tlleg-
ing that adobe or clay soil" that has
never! been cultivated for years. will
have more moisture below Than cult
waited soil. If This be so. that fact does
not clash with the theory OF particle
attraction. ON such soil the top sur
face has been packed down so closely
that the surface is practically puddlcd,
in which ease the attractive power of
the particles is destroyed l; is the
same as though the surface were COW
cred with large rock or Il board.
whereby the evaporation were sus-
pended. Every one knows that moisture
may almost always he found under II
large rock The idea is to cover the
soil with something that will suspend
the attractive power OF the soil part-
cles ami retard evaporation.
Herein lies the whG,e secrct OF why
land should be- cultivated after each
irrigation or heavy rainfall If the far
mer wishes 10 conserve the moisture
in the soil. There Is also another and
very important reason why crops
should be cultivated after each irriga-
tidn. The roots of plants require air
quite AZ much rs they do water, and
when The soil becomes packed or plas-
tered down by irrigation the roots do
not get full supply of air unless the
surface crust is broken. Irrigation
Age