. Productive soils; the fundamentals of successful soil management and profitable crop production. Soils. HOW A SOIL MULCH CONSERVES MOISTURE 103 field?? planted to crops like corn, potatoes, .cotton, or any other crop planted in rows so as to permit of intertillage. What Constitutes a Good Soil Mulch.—On silt loams, clay loams and clays a good mulch consists of a layer of loosened and dry soil composed either of crumbs or a mixture of crumbs and small lumps. A dust mulch is undesirable because it becomes a hard crust when a hot sun shines upon it after a rain, whereas a crummy layer does not
. Productive soils; the fundamentals of successful soil management and profitable crop production. Soils. HOW A SOIL MULCH CONSERVES MOISTURE 103 field?? planted to crops like corn, potatoes, .cotton, or any other crop planted in rows so as to permit of intertillage. What Constitutes a Good Soil Mulch.—On silt loams, clay loams and clays a good mulch consists of a layer of loosened and dry soil composed either of crumbs or a mixture of crumbs and small lumps. A dust mulch is undesirable because it becomes a hard crust when a hot sun shines upon it after a rain, whereas a crummy layer does not crust and bake so easily. A good mulch on sandy soils consists of a loosened and dry layer of sand. Fig. 44.—How a soil mulch conserves moisture. The footprints are kept moist because the soil moisture is permitted to move to the surface and evaporate. After awhile the foot- prints will become hard and dry, while the soil beneath the mulch will be mellow and moist. 'K In a humid climate it is not generally necessary to make a soil mulch deeper than three inches. Many are very effective when only an inch or two in depth, especially in gardens and on heavy soils. How a Soil Mulch Conserves Moisture.—The protective action of a soil mulch in lessening the loss of moisture is based on three principles: (1) The looseness of the soil hinders the movement of capillary water from soil particle to soil particle. (2) The dry surfaces of the soil particles and crumbs offer resistance to the up- ward movement of water films. (3) A surface layer of dry soil keeps the soil below it somewhat cooler, thus lessening the ten- dency of the soil moisture to evaporate. When the surface layer of a soil is loosened, therefore, the capillary rise of moisture is. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Weir, Wilbert Wal
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectsoils, bookyear1920
