Desiccation of a clay by grass, bushes and trees

After reviewing the past 60 years of research into the desiccation of clay soils by grass, bushes and trees as it affects shallow building foundations and roads pavements, it was concluded that most past research has been opportunistic and unplanned. Also, no attempt has been made to relate changes of soil water content to rainfall and rates of evapotranspiration. The paper reports the second stage of a sustained programme to observe and understand seasonal and annual changes of soil water content under grass and adjacent to bushes and trees. A 12 months set of two-monthly soil water content contours is presented together with the associated soil water balance, and a method is described for assessing evapotranspiration by bushes and trees by means of a solar energy balance.