SummaryAnnual applications of farmyard manure for 7 or 8 years have led to a significant increase in the available‐water capacity of a sandy loam soil and in the volume of water released at low tensions. The available‐water capacity increased, and the moisture characteristic altered, as the soil became more compacted during crop growth in both 1960 and 1961, and differences in moisture characteristics between the manured and unmanured soil were greatest at the harvest time of the c