The Storage and Use of Soil Moisture. Report of Experimental Substation, North Platte, Nebraska

Authors

W. W. BurrFollow

Date of this Version

7-1914

Document Type

Article

Citation

Burr, W.W. (1914) The storage and use of soil moisture. Report of experimental substation, North Platte, Nebraska (Research Bulletin: Bulletin of the Agricultural Experiment Station of Nebraska No. 5)

Comments

ISSN 0097-1336

Abstract

The profitable cultivation of the non-irrigable lands in west central and western Nebraska is limited by the amount and efficient use of the precipitation. There are tracts of land in the sand hills and minor tracts of badly worn heavier soils where the need of soil fertility is becoming evident. But, in the main, the great problem at present is not one of soil fertility, but of how to get enough water to make use of the fertility now present. The rainfall of this section, which varies from an actual shortage to seldom more than a meager sufficiency, makes it imperative that the best use be made of the water that falls. He who most economically gets the greatest use of the rainfall is truly the best farmer from the standpoint of production. This bulletin is largely concerned with problems relative to the accumulation and use of the soil water. In presenting the results shown in the bulletin, we have endeavored to select that portion of our soil moisture studies which may have the most practical application. And we ask that it be read carefully and that the tables showing weather conditions be consulted in order that one may not draw the wrong conclusions from any data offered.