40) 
soil, carefully labeled, wrapped, and mailed, for analysis. The object ‘of the anal- 
ysis, as explained in the accompanying letter, was to ascertain the cause and remedy 
of that peculiar property in our soils which is fatal to cotton and most garden-vegeta- 
bles, to bois-d’are and all our cultivated trees except the peach and most of the native 
trees. The cereals, however, wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, &c., appear to be injured, 
but not destroyed by it. 
It will be seen that these conditions are precisely similar to those 
described in the report referred to in the following communication ad- 
dressed to Mr. Mills by the Commissioner. 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
Washington, December 14, 1875. 
Srr:.Your note of the 13th instant, inclosing letter from Mr. Dickson, is at hand. 
. The difficulty existing in the soils of Texas, referred to by your correspondent, was 
fully discussed in the Annual Report of this Department for 1872, and the deductions 
there made have been fully corroborated by Mr. A. G. Graves, jr., of McKinney, Col- 
lins County, Texas. The position taken in the article in question, without personal 
examination of the locality, was, that the difficulty was due to a deficiency in under- 
drainage; that the water of the subsoil was held in place, thus precluding the admis- 
sion of oxygen to the soil, and preventing the decomposition of the organic matter 
holding the mineral elements of plant-food in insoluble combinations, not capable of 
being absorbed and assimilated by the plants in growth.: This will explain why cereals 
and other plants supplied with superficial roots are uninjured, they being able to 
derive their nourishment from the surface-soil. But after plants having iong tap- 
roots have reached that stage of development in which their roots penetrate the sub- 
soil where this unfavorable condition exists, the subsoil, saturated to its fullest extent 
with stagnant water, is unable to give up the nutriment it contains, an unhealthy 
condition for the plants exists, and they naturally die from starvation and bad treat- 
ment. 
Mr. Graves found, in preparing to set’a fence through a piece of ground where, from 
the cause in question, a hedge of osage-orange, or bois-d’arc, had become diseased and 
had died, that when holes were made to enter the subsoil of that portion where the 
destruction had been greatest and most marked, water rose in them, filling them to 
the same level. The description of his experience as detailed in his letter is as follows : 
“Thad occasion to run a line of fence across one of these spots where an osage-orange 
hedge had died out, a distance of about 50 yards. In boring post-holes for fence to 
close this gap, it was necessary to bore one at each end, just outside of the spot. The 
grade of the land was an inclination of about one foot in thirty. It being rather wet, 
water rose in the holes very quickly along through the spot, decreasing in depth some- 
what near the ends, while in the holes just outside the spot it scarcely ran in at all.” 
This proves that where such a condition exists, the line of division between the sur- 
face-soil and subsoil is undulating, and the subsoil being of close texture, and 
impenetrable to water, underground ponds. if the term be aliowable, aré formed. 
When the roots of plants reach the level of the water and pass beneath it, destruction - 
takes place. 
Application of lime, as recommended in the article referred to, will doubtless have a 
good effect as a remedy for this difficulty, but the best way of removing it effectually | 
will probably be found in underdrainage. From information we have received, this 
may be somewhat difficult in some localities, and may, in some cases, be impracticable. 
It has been suggested that, since below this hard stratum of subsoil may be found a 
stratum of loose sand or gravel, it will be possible to remove the water from these spots 
by piercing holes through the hard subsoil to the loose stratum below, and making 
such openings about the center of each spot. Whether this will be practicable, can 
be determined only by experiment. It will, however, be worth a trial. Should your 
correspondent undertake such experiment, it would afford us great pleasure to be ad- 
vised of the result. If successful, it will be of great value to all planters in the vicinity 
of the mouth of the Mississippi. 
Our failure to examine the samples of soils when received was due to the fact that 
they were unaccompanied with a letter of instructions with regard to the lecality from 
which they were taken, and the existing conditions. This is always indispensable in 
such investigations. 
Very respectfully, 
FREDERICK WATTS, 
Commissioner of Agriculture. 
Tion. R. Q. MILts, 
House of Representatives. 
FIXATION OF ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN IN THE SOIL.—In some of the 
late numbers of ‘‘ Comptes Rendus de Vv Academie des Sciences,’ Mons. 
