The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1905-02-03
A Visit to a Nearby King
dom.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

mere ID u tendency TO keep the nlmS at
the same level, at the same distance
above where the water fills the soil, of
equal thickness, and thus when the root.
let removes water and thins the films
water rushes in from all sides to take
the place of the water removed and thus
restore the even thickness of the film
Naturally the water to supply the
amount evaporated from the surface
must come from below, and on hot,
dry day there must be continual move
ment upward of the soil water.
You will be surprised to learn how
much water is dried out of our field on
hot days, and especially on hot and windy
days. In one case this same Professor
King, from whose work we have learned
80 much and shall learn more, found
that in certain field where the water
table. or the top of the water filed soil.
was five feet below the surface, and the
soil clay loan, there was loss through
the surface of over nine pounds per
square foot in seven days. Remember
how many square feet there are in an
acre. and note that loss Of just one
pound per square foot means loss of
over twenty tons per acre, and that
therefore the loss of the nine pounds was
loss of almost two hundred tons per
acre. Where did this water, thus pulled
out Of the surface of the ground come
from2 1t came from below the surface.
from down deep in the soil and was
moved upward through these water films
surrounding the soil particles and kerr
nels. AS fast as the films were made
thinner by this evaporation at and
toward the surface, the water kept NOV
ing upward in these films in the vain
but continuous effort to keep the water
films of even thickness.
How far can water be lifted in this
way, through these films? That de-
ponds mainly upon the size of the soil
particles, and no definite answer can be
given. The roots of our common crops
supply from below four feet deep and it
has been shown that this upward move
ment extends as far down as four feet.
This upward movement too is rapid
enough to exhaust the available water
supply of our field soils in few weeks
or even in a few days in the dry and hot
weather of August, if it be not checked
1t is the main business Of the man
cultivating the soil to check this upward
flow or too little water will be left in
the soil to make his crops grow.
You will notice that, to have this
upward flow take place, the soil kernels
must be in close contact so that the
water film over one kernel, continues,
without break, over the nearest one.
The kernels must be in close contact
over some considerable part of their
adjacent surfaces. 1t is evident there
fore that if we separate the soil kernels
with plow or a cultivator and do not
pack them down closely together again,
the upward flow of the water is at once
checked and that this stoppage of the
flow continues as long as the kernels
are thus kept far enough apart to pre-
vent the water film being continuous
from one to the other. Thus blowing a
field cuts off a layer of earth as thick as
the blowing is deep and breaks the con-
nection between this layer and the
earth below and thus prevents the loss of
water at the surface. Where half of a
field was plowed at the beginning of
"a dry SPELL" and the other half week
later, it was found that, at the date of
blowing the second half, the piece plow-
ed first contained enough more water
than the piece left unplowed to equal
an eighth of all the rainfall of the
season.
The rains in Michigan usually come
fairly early in the spring and it not in
frequently happens that we get but
little rain during May and early June,
just when the freshly sown crops most
need it. The rule ought therefore to be
to pillow the oat and corn fields as early
in the spring as possible and the ground
is fit to prevent this loss of water. More
over when the blowing is done just late
enough to avoid destroying the soil kerr
nels, yet early enough to prevent the
loss of water, the after treatment is
made much easier, the surface is less
lumpy and it is not nearly as difficult to
so harrow and cultivate it as to get just
the right seed bed. The garden and the
potato field should be plowed early too,
first to avoid the loss of water; second
to allow the weed seeds to sprout, so
that you can kill the young weeds with
the harrow before planting; third to
allow the chemical processes to go for.
ward in the aerated soil, making the
plant food more available to the crops,
and fourth, to allow the ground to settle
again to place so that the upper layer,
torn of from the earth beneath by the
pillow, may secure its supply of water
from below leaving it to the farmer to
= =