Show SAVE WATER WITH THE PLOW experiments by bureau of irrigation show value ot thorough cultivation cultivation should follow irrigation sa eoon as the condition 0 the soil makes the work possible bated land loses by evaporation two or three times as much as cultivated land the loss decreasing with the depth of the soli mulch the startling quantities 0 both losses and savings were demonstrated conclusively in series of experiments undertaken by the bureau of irrigation investigations in an orange grove in riverside california eight water jacketed tanks two feet wide and four feet deep each filled with about eleven hundred pounds of the sandy loam that made up the orchard a soil were burled in a trench four feet apart after their exact eight and moisture content had been ascertained measured quantities of water were applied to tha soli in the tanks by means of a furrow four inches deep across the top of each tank in imitation of orchard practice the arrangement of the soil lay ere and the irrigation and cultivation methods followed field conditions as closely as possible in the first experiment sufficient water to cover the surface of the tanks twelve inches deep was grad bally applied to the eight sheet iron vessels five days after the apply cation of the water when the top soil had dried out sufficiently to be work ed four of the tanks were cultivated and four were left uncultivated dur ing the first five days ot the expert ment before cultivation began the evaporation losses determined by frequent weighing of the tanks amount ed to fifteen per cent of the total quantity of water added to both seta of tanks from the sixth to the eleventh day the value of cultivation as a moisture saver became apparent on the ninth day tor instance the cultivated tanka showed an average loss of water amounting to less than a pound and a quarter each whereas the soil left uncultivated lost three pounds per tank after the last weigh ing on the eleventh day it was found that since cultivation began four the tanks had lost 6 7 per cent of the total amount of water applied lo 10 the weighing of the tour uncultivated tanks the loss of water was found to reach 11 3 per cent |