The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-04-18

ioIn IS called capillary water. This Is
a thin film of moisture which sur
rounds and is held close to each soil
grain by adhesion. 1t is that proportion
OF the free water upon which the rorce
of adhesion is greater than the rorce
OF gravity. 1t may move through the
soil in any direction. and ALWAYS goes
toward The driest places whether they
be above or below or upon one De.
Illustration of CapilIsrity.
Put d small portion of a dry sponge
into water. observe that the wster
Immediately rises to It's most distant
parts. The water is drawn into tbr
sponge, as oil into a lamp wick. bv the.
force called capillary attraction. The
smaller the openings, the farther the
water VIII rise, as may be shown nv
dipping glass tubes having different
sized openings INTO water. II. therefore.
the top soil is packed together bv ROLL
ing or long rest, its capillary tubes are
made smaller, and more moisture will
arise TO the surface and escape nv
evaporation than If the surface laver
Is plowed up or loOsened and made
open. Capillary water is the chief sup
ply Of moisture to crops.
Microscopic Moisture.
The third form of sol water is
called microscopic moisture 1t is an
exceedingly thin film OF soil water. held
so firmly to eacn soil grain that il can
not be drawn away by capillary attrac-
ton 1t is thought that plants cannot
get much of this Microscopic moisture.
Usually the finest grained soils and the
colder soils contain more of this moi.s-
ture than coarse and warm soils con-
tain. Moreover, it is found in soils that
appear to be perfectly dry If the film
is thick, the plants may draw it off too
quickly. so that the soil merely moist.
and not wet, is really the best for dry
farming operations.
The Two Problems.
For successful arid farming. two
problems are to be solved: First. to
catch all the rain of winter: second
/ To keep IL from evapOrating during
1 The summer. The first object is at
tanned by deep blowing in the fall.
in this way about IS per cent of the
winter moisture may be retained till
spring. Then the land should be har-
rowed. so as to form d thick, fine
mulch of pulverizeds SOL at the sur
face. This mulch will prevent evapora-
ton. Therefore the narrowing should
be repeated after every rainfall No
weeds should be permitted to grow.
since they consume the soil moisture
They should be destroyed as fast as
they appear. In this way the water
caught in the winter may be kept in
the ground during the summer. to be
used as needed by the growing plants
Storing the Water.
I'm order to store water in the soil,
space must be provided in which it
can be held until the plant roots drink
it in. The soil is composed of rock
grains of all sizes variOusly compact
ed or thrown together. The soil must
be made less like solid substance
and more like a sponge in order to
hold the moisture 1t must be filled
with spaces between the grains, 50
that it has plenty of the capillary
tubes in which the moisture can be
held. The more of these tubes. or
spaces there are, the more water the
soil viii retain. The soil must there
fore be plOwed or loosened in some
way This may be done with disc
pillow or a mold-board pillow: but the
sub-soil pillow should also be used
since deep plowing is generally neces-
sary in order that sufficient moisture
shall be stored When the SOL is
thus plowed, the toTrential rains
which fall in summer or autumn and
the snow or sleet of winter will sink
into the soil instead of running off the
surface.
How Moisturf Is Lost.
Soil moisture is lost in two ways:
90 the free water peTcOlates or sinks
downward until it is lost to the roots