Hydrotropic wetting agents enhance the activity of water for earthy materials by lowering surface tension to promote surface-to-surface contact, to neutralize the electric double layer, to destroy protective colloids, to neutralize other charged particles, and to bind water to the materials, thus, significantly reducing the evaporation rate and, concomitantly, reducing the amount of water that must be applied and the energy and time used to prepare the material. A wetting agent suitable for the present invention includes an alkylphenol ethoxylate (APE) and a polyglycol, such as, for example, glycerin or propylene glycol (when toxicity is not an issue), and an antifoaming agent, such as for example, a polysiloxane polymer. These chemicals combined in the concentration ranges of the present invention produce wetting agent/hydrotropic formulations that maybe used to provide the advantages of the present invention.