254 



BULLETIN 275. 



in the total soluble nitrogen (organic matter and ammonia). Nitrates 

 have increased slightly, but not to the extent found in normal soils. 

 Nitrites disappeared almost completely in the only soil in which they 

 were determined. Water-soluble ammonia also disappeared quite 

 rapidly, but the total ammonia decreased very little in one month, 

 and in the soil in which there was the greatest decrease in water-soluble 

 ammonia there was an increase in the total ammonia. What becomes 

 of the ammonia it is difficult to say, as it has not been largely con- 

 verted into nitrates. 



As a whole there has been a tendency for all of the water-soluble 

 material to assume a less soluble condition and this apparently con- 

 tinues for a number of months, and probably docs not reach an equi- 

 librium for a year or more as indicated by the crop growth to be mentioned 

 later. 



Fig. 67 — Showing better growth on Soil No. 2, three months after steaming 



Pot 20 — Soil jVo. 7, steamed 

 Pot 22 — Soil No. I, unsteamed 

 Pot 24 — Soil No. 2, steamed 

 Pot 26 — Soil No. 2, unsteamed 



