The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-10-10
SOuIDIFYING THE SOIL
Packing Has Appreciate Effect
Upon Moisture Movement.
Flow - Capillary Water 10 inersaso1
by Reducing Spaces Between Soil
oraIns-ordlnary Flat Rolf
n May Be Ussd.

By l. D. wALDRON. superintends.a
Dickinson. N. d.. Sub-station).
Packing or solidifyins the soil has
. very appreciable effect upon the
movement Of the soil moisture. In
the movement of capillary water It 10
absolutely necessary that the soil par.
ucles be very close together. The
dow Of capillary water 10 increased
By reducing the spaces between The
coil grains. or by packing the soil.
King has shown that with the uso
Of m ordinary nat roller. the moie.
turo OF the soil may be affected to the
depth Of 81 inches. The nrst effect q
rolling. BY increasing the capillary
movement Of water. 10 70 cause the
upper layer Of soil to become wettss
and the lower layers to become dries.
II. after rolling. the surface Of the
ground 10 allowed to remain nrm. the
movement of the water continues mn.
III the whole soil column becomes
drier than 1t was before rolling. Roll
Ing the soil. then. increases the sur
face moisture at the expense Of the
moisture In the deeper layers. and
finally decreases the moisture in the
entire column. q
The practice 10 only allowable in
semi-arid regions when moisture
from the s%ub-surface can be spared
for the use Of the top surface o.
when a capillary connection with the
unplowed soil 10 to be made. II the
subsoil - comparatively dry, 1t may
be a very bad practice to reduce it,
water supply. 1t should not be for
gotten that the deeper stored water
is much less liable to evaporation
than the water next to the surface,
and 1t should also be kept In mind
that roots Of field-crop plants 60 deep
In semi-arid regions, so that the
deeply stored water may be as en-
cient as the water neal the surface.
1t Is found in semi-arid regions that
there IL a tendency, particularly for
the third foot, to become very dry 1t
the time Of crop maturity. II might
be we'll not to induce the upward
movement Of stored water 1T or i'm.
mediately before the sowing Of the
crop. a~4
When the soil IL to be ffrmed, It 10
better to use a tool that leaves the
surface rough Of that does not inter
fere with the soil mulch already form
ed. There are various kinds Of cor.
rugated rollers, combination rollers
and packers. and sub-surface packers.
The weighted disk harrow with
straight disks serves % q sub-surface
packer. The soil should be frmed
enough to establish . good bed and
to establish capillary connection b.
tween the newly plowed and the nm
plowed soil. This ID especially true
when manure. trash or heavy stubble
has been plowed under. The sub
surface packer. or any tool that firms
the soil. probably does good work n
reducing the air spaces OF the sou.
thus hindering it, drying out. provi&
ed always that . dirt mulch 80 len
upon the surface.
The press drill r. q tool vhAch
practically adds the value OF ne rot
Ter to the drill. The sou 10 presseA
only where the seeds are buried. thus
leaving = mulch between the rows q
grain. The pressing OF the soil
around the seeds tends TO bring mos.
ture to them and 90 hastens sesminar
ton. 49,