Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T05:40:16.441Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A soil moisture meter. Depending on the “capillary pull” of the soil. With illustrations of its use in fallow land, grass orchard, and irrigated orchards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

W. S. Rogers
W. S. Rogers
Affiliation:
(Horticultural Research Station, East Malling, Kent.)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

1. A soil moisture meter which gives direct and continuous measurement of the soil moisture content is described. The instrument consists of a special porous pot filled with water, connected by a tube to a mercury manometer. The pot is buried in the soil, whose capillary pull causes the mercury to rise. The height to which the mercury rises depends on the amount of moisture in the soil, and also on the size of soil particles and the degree of compactness of the soil. (The last two factors remain constant for an instrument in one position.)

2. To read actual moisture percentage each instrument has to be calibrated for the soil in which it is placed. Once this is done, all sampling and weighing is eliminated.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , July 1935 , pp. 326 - 343
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1935

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

(1)Revised method for the mechanical analysis of soils. Agric. Progr. (1928), 5, 137.Google Scholar
(2)Bouyoucos, G. J.Determining soil moisture rapidly and accurately by methyl alcohol. J. Amer. Soc. Agron. (1928), 20, 82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(3)Briggs, L. J.Electrical instruments for determining the moisture, temperature, and soluble salt content of soils. Bull. U.S. Div. Soils (1899), No. 15.Google Scholar
(4)Conrad, J. P. and Veihmeyer, F. J.Root development and soil moisture. Hilgardia (1929), 4, 113–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(5)Deighton, T.Some investigations on the electrical method of soil moisture determination. J. agric. Sci. (1922), 12, 207–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(6)Engelhardt, J. H.Some contributions to the knowledge of capillary phenomena in connection with the heterogeneity of the soil. Soil Res. (1929), 1, 239–301.Google Scholar
(7)Gardner, F. D.The electrical method of moisture determination in soils, results and modifications. Bull. U.S. Div. Soils (1898), No. 12.Google Scholar
(8)Gardner, F. D. and Briggs, L. J.An electrical method of determining the moisture content of arable soils. Bull. U.S. Div. Soils (1897), No. 6.Google Scholar
(9)Garola, C. V. and , Chartres. Études sur l’ascension capillaire dans les sols. Ann. Sci. agron., Paris (1925), 1, 1. Reviewed in Int. Rev. Sci. Pract. Agric. (Rome), 3, 732.Google Scholar
(10)Gorz, G.An apparatus for the electrical determination of soil moisture in the field. Int. Mitt. Bodenk. (1924), 14, 35–9.Google Scholar
(11)Hackett, F. E. and Strettan, J. S.The capillary pull of an ideal soil. J. agric. Sci. (1928), 18, 671–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(12)Haines, W. B.Studies in the physical properties of soils. I. Mechanical properties concerned in cultivation. J. agric. Sci. (1923), 13, 296–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(13)Haines, W. B.Studies in the physical properties of soils. II. A note on the cohesion developed by capillary forces in an ideal soil. J. agric. Sci. (1925), 15, 529–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(14)Haines, W. B.Studies in the physical properties of soils. IV. A further contribution to the theory of capillary phenomena in soil. J. agric. Sci. (1927), 17, 264–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(15)Haines, W. B.Studies in the physical properties of soils. V. The hysteresis effect in capillary properties and the modes of moisture distribution associated there-with. J. agric. Sci. (1930), 20, 97–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(16)Hardy, F.The soil point method for directly estimating the water supplying power of a soil in the field. J. agric. Sci. (1923), 13, 355–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(17)Heath, O. V. S.A method of water control for sand cultures. Ann. Bot. (1929), 43, 71–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(18)Heck, A. F.A soil hygrometer for irrigated cane lands of Hawaii. J.Amer. Soc. Agron. (1934), 26, 274–8.Google Scholar
(19)Joffre, J. S. and Mclean, H. C.Colloidal behaviour of soils and soil fertility. I. Suction force of soils as an index of their colloid content. Soil. Sci. (1925), 20, 169–76.Google Scholar
(20)Joffre, J. S. and McLean, H. C.Suction force of soils. A note on the application of this principle in the study of the soil plant system. Science (1925), 62, 548–50.Google Scholar
(21)Keen, B. A.The physical properties of the soil (1931), pp. 89–128, on moisture movements. Longmans.Google Scholar
(22)Kelly, A. P.The suction force of soils and its demonstration in the plant habitat. 1st Internat. Congress of Soil Sci. (1927), 1, 535–8.Google Scholar
(23)Kornev, V. G.The suction force of soils. Zhurnal Opitnoi Agron. (Russian J. exp. Agron.), (1924), 22, 105–11 (1921–23). Abstract in Soil Sci. (1924), 17 428.Google Scholar
(24)Livingston, B. E.A method of controlling plant moisture. Plant World (1908) II, 39–40.Google Scholar
(25)Livingston, B. E. and Hawkins, L. A.The water relation between plant and soil. Publ. Carneg. Instn (1915), No. 204.Google Scholar
(26)Livingston, B. E. and Koketsu, R.Water-supplying power of soil and wilting of plants. Soil Sci. (1920), 9, 468–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(27)Lynde, C. J. and Dupre, H. A.On a new method of measuring the capillary lift of soils. J. Amer. Soc. Agron. (1913), 5, 107–16.Google Scholar
(28)McCorkle, W. H.Determination of soil moisture by the method of multiple electrodes. Bull. Tex. agric. Exp. Sta. (1931), No. 426, pp. 20, Fig. 6.Google Scholar
(29)Rogers, W. S. Root studies. IV. A method of observing root growth in the field; illustrated by observations in an irrigated apple orchard in British Columbia. Rep. E. Malling Res. Sta. 1933 (May 1934), pp. 86–91.Google Scholar
(30)Rogers, W. S. and Vyvyan, M. C.Root studies. V. Rootstock and soil effect on apple root systems. J. Pomol. (1934), 12, 110–44.Google Scholar
(31)Smith, A. and Flint, F. W.Soil moisture determination by the alcohol method. Soil Sci. (1930), 29, 101–7.Google Scholar
(32)Veihmeyer, F. J. and Hendrickson, A. H.Soil moisture conditions in relation to plant growth. Plant Physiol. (1927), 2, 71–82.Google Scholar