Absorbent Powers Of Mellow Soil

Exporiments havo shown that a mellow, loamy soil is eapable of absorbing in twclvo hours, when cxposod to a ínoist atjaeephere an amount of wator oqual to tfwo per cent. of its vreigtit. If any argument wcre nooded to koop the soil mellow, hero is a most powerful one to eonvinco us. For this property possessed by a mellow soil is ono that in a dry soason i&able to.give it the power of maturing a arop, when a hardom;d surfaco would be unabhi to do so. A surfaee that is impenetrable to the atmospherü, of course, could not absorb any of the moisturo ■with which the atmosplicro is ohaig6L JtU'jt. when rendored free i'rom kimpi by continued plowings and harrowings, each chango of teniperaturo causes a cireulation of air throughout the mass of soil, which is freo then to absorb all the moistro coming in contact with it until it is satwW. So, then, the more soil is mcllowed by eultivation, the loss it is injiïrionsly affected by drought, and the better it is enablcd to mature a fair erop in spito of the (ibscncc of