unning off over the
surface of the land. This occurs especially on hilly farms and in the
case of close, compact soils.

Water may be lost from the soil by leaching through the lower soil.

Water may be lost from the soil by evaporation from the surface.

The soil may lose water by the growth of weeds which are continually
pumping water up by their roots and transpiring it from their leaves
into the air.

HOW SOME FARM OPERATIONS INFLUENCE SOIL WATER

Plowing and soil water. One of the first effects of deeply and
thoroughly plowing a close, compact soil, is that rain will sink into
it readily and not be lost by surface wash. In many parts of the
country, especially the South, great damage is done by the surface
washing and gulleying of sloping fields.

The shallow layer of soil stirred up by small plows and practice of
shallow plowing so prevalent in the South takes in the rain readily,
but as the harder soil beneath does not easily absorb the water the
shallow layer of plowed soil soon fills, then becomes mud, and the
whole mass goes down the slope. Where the land is plowed deep there is
prepared a deep reservoir of loose soil that is able to hold a large
amount of water till the harder lower soil can gradually absorb it.

The soil stirred and thoroughly broken by the plow serves not only as
a reservoir for the rainfall, but also acts as a mulch over the more
compact soil below it, thus checking the rapid use of capillary water
to the surface and its consequent loss by evaporation. The plow which
breaks and pulverizes the soil most thoroughly is the one best adapted
to fit the soil for receiving and holding moisture.

If the plowing is not well done or if the land is too dry when plowed
and the soil is left in great coarse lumps and clods, the air
circulates readily among the clods and takes from them what little
moisture they may have had and generally the soil is left in a worse
condition than if it had not been plowed at all.

Fall plowing on rolling land and heavy soil leaving the surface rough
helps to hold winter snows and rains when they fall, giving to such
fields a more even distribution of soil water in the spring.

Spring plowing should be done early, before there is much loss of
water from the surface by evaporation.

Professor King, of the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment
Station, carried on an experiment to see how much soil water could be
saved by early plowing. He selected