Show i Fertilized Soils Drink Hard Rains Unfertilized Soils BreakDown Break BreakDown BreakDown Down Under Hard Rains Rams Does your farm land drink In pelting rains T Or do those rains break down the surface soil seal the top lop like a lid Ud puddle and then runoff run runoff runoff off The answer depends on soil care say Missouri l University agron agron- omista i The accompanying photos show what happened after a beating rain tell fell on two freshly plowed fields adjoining adjoining ad ad- joining each other at the Sanborn Experiment Field at Columbia Mo Both fields had bad been in to corn since Ince 1888 1883 The top field was fertilized the lower one ana not For the test all crops were removed and then the soil soU was wa plowed Soil in the top field took the rain in stride The water drained quickly down in There was practically no runoff no soil damage or loss of water or topsoiL The plowed clods are Intact and the surface looks loose and porous On the lower field fjeld the beating rain broke the bare surface soil 1011 into tiny particles particle Clods dodi were dissolved 1 I rJ ow N r r 11 8 J. J 1 r Jr V 1 t 1 EN l o. o 1 t 4 IJ 1 4 i. i 4 The tiny particles quickly filled the pores of the surface soils soUs forming a hard like lid crust Water could not get down in so it on the surface This field suffered a double loss It lost needed moisture for crops and it lost valuable topsoil due duc to runoff |