548 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



"The solution was added to the reservoirs of the two cylinders of both pairs at the 

 same time, as rapidly as capillarity would permit, until the soils became wet on the 

 surface, the covers being kept on to prevent evaporation. At about this time the 

 soil was removed from one of the cylinders in 1- or 2-in. layers, . . . weighed and 

 dried and the per cent of moisture determined. The other pylinder of soil had its 

 cover removed and was set out in a free circulation of air, to strengthen the loss of 

 water by evaporation, and distilled water was kept supplied until about as much had 

 been added to the soil as it had taken of the salt solution. There are thus two series 

 of soil samples: ( 1 ) One through which a salt solution had risen by capillarity until 

 the soil was wet on the surface, and (2) another in which distilled water was per- 

 mitted to follow, also by capillarity, the salt solution until enough more had entered 

 the soil to have about displaced the salt solution. . . . At the close of the period of 

 capillary movement, in each case, the soil was removed in consecutive layers, the 

 first four, 1 in. each, and the balance, 2 in. deep." 



The results show that there was a general tendency "for the potash to concentrate 

 at the bottom of the columns where the solution entered, while higher up in the soil 

 capillarity had the effect of forcing the potash upward until it was arrested in the 

 surface inch. . . . There was a remarkable difference between the amounts of lime 

 and of potash recovered from the surface soil, the mean amounts for the 8 soil types 

 being 1,468 for lime and 82.38 for potash or as 18 to 1; while in the bottom layer the 

 mean amounts recovered were 34.41 of lime to 40.67 of potash, the relations being 

 reversed. . . . The capillary movement reduced the lime which could be recovered 

 from the bottom layer to about one-fourth and increased that at the top 12-fold; 

 while with the potash the decrease was only about 6 to 7 per cent at the bottom and 

 the increase at the top less than 2-fold. There is thus shown a strong difference 

 between the movement of the potash and of the lime, through these soils under the 

 influence of capillarity. . . . 



"The movements of magnesia were, in general, more nearly analogous to those of 

 the lime than to those of the potash, but there was no such large accumulations in 

 the surface inch. . . . 



"The tendency of nitrates to change one way or the other is so great, on account 

 of biological influences, that the capillary movement of them can not well be indi- 

 cated by such a series of observations, except in a most general way. . . . There 

 was a heavy accumulation of the nitrates in the surface layer and a large reduction 

 of them in the lower portions of the columns, which was undoubtedly due, to a great 

 extent, to capillary movement. 



" In the case of the phosphates, notwithstanding the addition of them to the soil 

 with the solution, the absorption was so strong as to reduce the amounts which could 

 be recovered to so narrow a margin that the movements can be measured by the 

 methods only with great difficulty. 



"The [results] show that, in the capillary movement of the sulphates upward 

 through the soils, they advanced much as the lime and magnesia did, concentrating 

 at the surface, but not as intensely as did either the chlorin or nitric acid. • • • 



' ' No salt in the series investigated moved with such apparent freedom and aban- 

 doned the soil so completely as did the chlorids, or at least as did the chlorin. 



"The most striking feature in the data presented in this series of observations is 

 the completeness with which the chlorin disappeared from all but the surface inch 

 of soil, in four of the types under treatment, even at the end of 20 days." 



The results of experiments in small glass cylinders are reported which show that 

 nitrates were rapidly concentrated in the upper layers of soil by capillary sweeping 

 from below. 



In experiments in cylinders to test the effect of earth mulches and bare fallow 

 treatment on the capillary movement of soluble salts, the results indicated "a tend- 

 ency of naked fallows to increase the water-soluble salt content of the soil, especially 



