The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-04-22

ter sections the total rainfall is Sc
small that If any considerable quaa
tity be lost by surface evaporation
there does not remain sufficient mois
ture in n soil for the growth Of
crops.
The principal means employed in
the conservation of moisture are firsi
looseni1g the soil to great depths sc
chat the water a penetrate deeply
into the soil; second, adding humus
to h soil either by applying manur
directly Or by blowing under all stub.
BILE and other litter; and third, sur
face cultivation. While the first and
second mean are important AID
should never be neglected, yet the
third, that of surface culture, must
necessarily remain the most impor-
a n method for checking the loss of
sol moisture from the surface.
1t may be proven by simple means
that the rapidity of the movement OF
water by capillary action is dependent
upon the character and size of the
spaces between h soil particles. The
spaces are more or less irregular and
are by no means uniform in size. They
may form tubes which are irregular
or almost if not quite round, or they
may form thin sheetlike openings.
The smaller the openings, whether
| lIDOS Vi Oll0EWlSe, Cu0 U1OTe pOW-STIuI
will be the capillary action. This may
be proven in the following way: Pur-
chase from the druggist three glass
tubes of different sizes. Let the small
lest have an opening through it no
larger than a pin, and the largest an
opening, say one-fourth incl in diam
eter. Place all these tubes in a ver-
teal position in a glass or bowl one
nalf full of water and note the dis
lance from the surface of the water
in the glass to the top of h water
within each tube. The greatest dis
lance will be noted within the small
est tube and the same would be true
if the tubes were crooked, thus prov
ing that the capillary movement is
strongest within the small tubes in
the soil. From this we may conclude
that if the particles of the surface soil
have, by rain or by rolling beer press
ed closely together, the %tortuous tubes
between the particles are reduced il
size, thus obtaining the maximum ca
pillary effect, n so the amount of
soil moisture coming to the surface
and being evaporated into the atmos-
phere is increased. Furthermore, to
check this los of moisture we must
again enlarge the openings between
the particles in the surface soil. In
other words, we must enlarge the ca
pillary tubes for we have learned that
the moisture rises less freely through
the large openings. This is most
quickly and cheaply accomplished by
repeated civilizations, thus forming
what is known as a dust mulch" up
on the surface. Next to the storage
of moisture in the soil the conserva-
ton of soil moisture by surface Guilt
walton is most important to dry form
ing operations.
Windbreaks.
The windsweep is considerable u
ing certain seasons of the year in ma
ny sections where dry farming has
been or will he practiced. The mois-
ture hat is e~vaporated from the sur
face of the ground is carried away
more and more rapidly as the velocity
of the windsweep, decreases its de-
~siccating power. Grass two or three
inches high has a noticeable effect
upon the windsweep on the surface of
the ground for sDme distance. A
hedge row or two of shrubbery pro
duces marked effects upon the veloci-
ty of the wind and indirectly upon the
amount of moisture carried away from
the soil surface. The writer has been
informed that in certain part of Man
itoba, Canada, the wind in spring is
so strong as to literally blow the sur
face soil away from around the roots
of wheat plants thus destroying them.
The principal preventive measure u.s.
ed is the planting of miles upon miles
of the shrub NORWOOD (Artemisia
absythifolia.)
This shrub sends up SO many stems
from the crown as to form a very
thick and compact foliage, making an
windbreak. A row is plant
every twenty to forty rod thru
the field of grain. The wind is only
checked near the ground but that is
all that is necessary in order to pro
tect the young plants until they have
sufficiently established to pro-
tect the ground.
The shrub Artemisia grows Iuxur-
iantly in the irrigated valley of the
Rio Gra1de and since a number of spe
cies of the genus are found growing
the plains, Artesmfsia trideltata
in the northern portion and Artemisia
in the southern portion, the
common sages brushes,) l presume
it may, with proper care and cuI
.tivation, grow under such conditions
as field crops can be proftably grown.
Retaining the Snow Fall.
1t is quite as important to con-
serve the now fall as the rain fall.
Snow may even form the larger por-
- VI 49, - PiO>ApAt9NAOh III vi
tain sections. A capacious water res
ervoir formed as described heretofore
by deep blowing will take care of all
melting snow since the water formed
will Immediately sink into
the soil. But the snow carried away
by the wind is lost.
To prevent this loss several methods
nave been suggested, but they are all
based upon one object, TIA of stop
ping or modifying the windsweep
Since checking the windsweep is emf
nentiy desirable in order to prevent
soil desiccation during the growing
season, it naturally follows that any
in that direction will assist in
retaining the snow in place, until it
is melted by warm spring weather.
Leaving the surface of the soil
rough after blowing will in a measure
retain the snow, but, unless the plow-
ing is done late in the fall SO that
there will be little loss of moisture
from the exposed surface, more narn
will be done than good, except where
there is little or nc rain fall. If, how
ever, the land has been plowed early