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Show TWO KINDS OF SOIL MULCHES Foreign Material, Such at Straw, Lavf. f jnure and Sand Applied Ap-plied to the Surface. A mul( h ! snytblng applied to 11 surface of the soil primarily for Uie purpose of preventing evaporation, aud occasionally to keep down weeds and prevent winter killing of plants. There are two general kinds of tnulrlit'i: 11) Foreign material. such as Mraw, leaves, sawdust, manure. Hubble and annd applied to the- sur-fare; sur-fare; (2) Those composed of natural soil modified by tillage. One of thin I kind Is called "dust mulch" or "dust I blanket" and la simply a layer of foil j which hue been loosened up and dried out. explains Professor Kri ere of the Colorado Agricultural College. Mule bra of foreign material play a very small part In general farming, but nr extensively used In horticulture horticul-ture In aoine localities. The principle of the much la aa follow: fol-low: I-oose, dry ni.iU'rlul covering wet 8oll retards movement of water to the mirface, and keeps the dry. ilr-minting ilr-minting ulr from contact with the moist anil, thereby greatly reducing; the loss of water. The finer the mulch the looser It nuiHl be to give good results. Ordinary Ordi-nary soil mulches two to three Inches deep are usually most effective. When a mulch becomes wet Its effectiveness ef-fectiveness la gone until it la dried out again. Light rains and Irrigations on n mulched soli nre worse than no application appli-cation of water. because they only wet and destroy the mulch and allow the wafer from below to esrae, without with-out adding any to replace It. Additional Addi-tional expense Is Incurred by the cultivation cul-tivation which niuft be Immediately started to restore the mulch. A quantity of water retained by cul tivatlon is of far greater value even where water Is plentiful than the same amount applied to the soil. One of the great principle of dry farming Is to keep a good mulch on the soil all the time to prevent loss of water by evaporation. I |