596 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing coefficient of plants. In the case of quartz sand, for instance, the 

 lowering of the freezing point could be measured when the moisture 

 content was only 0.7%. 



In ever}' respect, therefore, the method appeared so promising from 

 these preliminary trials of being capable of measuring the concentration 

 of the real soil solution, that a more thorough investigation was in- 

 stituted, employing a greater number of soils at different moisture con- 

 tents and treating some of the soils with a large number of chemical 

 compounds of the same concentration in order to ascertain what effect 

 the application of soluble salts has upon the concentration of the soil 

 solution. The results obtained are in many respects very remarkable 

 and unexpected and promise to give us a better understanding of the 



Fi . 1. Apparatus for determining the' freezing point of soils. 



