REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 103 
in the soil in the neighborhood of the Zuyder Zee, in Holland, the 
amount of common salt in the soil down to various depths is as follows: 
At surface, 2.010 per cent.; at 15 inches, 2.113 per cent.; at 30 inches, 
2.504 per cent. These are very unusual quantities of this mineral, and it 
most likely would in dry climates diminish very materially the fertility 
of ‘the soil. But in a moist climate the effect of the rains is to lessen 
the amount of sodium chloride by washing it out, and this Holland soil 
shows the influence of the rain-fall in decreasing the*amount of salt in 
the upper layers of soil, eyen though at the same time there is a process 
of capillarity going on in warm sunshine, by which the upper layers of 
soil are made richer in soluble mineral matter than the subsoil. All 
soluble saline matters, however useful or necessary they may be, impede 
the rapid growth of plants if they are presented too abundantly or in 
too concentrated a solution to the roots of plants. “One of the fune- 
tions of the soil,” says Voelcker, ‘appears to be to transform such 
readily soluble compounds into combinations so little soluble in water 
that they pass in common life as insoluble, but which are still sufficiently 
soluble to supply the growing plant with the necessary amount of min- 
eral food in a state of solution.” Taking this as a correct statement, 
there is no doubt that one of the causes of infertility in these soils, and 
in the districts from whence they are supplied, lies in their excessive 
amount of common salt in the upper layers of soil. They are not, 
strictly speaking, ‘“‘ alkaline” soils; they are rather saline soils. Their 
alkaline reaction is feeble, and does not appear to be due to. carbonates 
of soda or potassa. 
How is this excessive amount of common salt in the soil to be dealt 
with? 1. Canit beeliminated? 2. Is the extent of territory over which 
it is spread such as to prevent any physical or textural amendments by 
mixing with other soils? 3. Do the same natural means exist in Ne- 
vada asin Holland for its decrease? Is there sufficient rain-fali? I 
fear that an affirmative reply cannot be given to any one of these ques- 
tions. The only methods of improvement are by admixture or by per- 
colation. The method of admixture has been tried by experiments con- 
ducted in this Department, in which plants were attempted to be grown 
in these soils both in their natural state and when admixed with varia- 
ble proportions of fine white sand. The experiments were conducted as 
follows: Anumber of pots filled with the soils Nos. 1, 2, and 3, were sown 
with seeds of corn, (maize,) asparagus, brassica, rape, and beet, (Vilmo- 
rin’s imperial.) These were placed in the green-house, with a constant 
heat above 70° Fahrenheit, and well watered. The seeds sown did not 
vegetate, except the corn, of which a small portion germinated, and 
when the cotyledon appeared above the soil it dried off into a saline 
external crust, and the interior became soft and black from rot. The 
experiment was unsuccessful. Another set of pots were filled with 
samples of these soils, mixed with sand in variable propgrtions, and sim- 
ilarly disposed in the green-house. Great care was taken in these latter 
experiments to prevent any loss of common salt from the earth by the 
daily watering, the drainage of the earths into dishes below being ¢on- 
stantly returned. The results obtained from this second set of experi- 
ments were more encouraging. ‘Three forms of admixture, marked 
respectively Nos. 1, 2, and 3, were experimented upon as follows: 
Me Pee UR S22 a AL £0) ee eR hte oe Clay 600; sand 600, 
eee 28). So 2a Pee SUL. ack Sek dee ee | aa) ae Clay 300; sand 600. 
bee a MN te | yet a eee ret ho Sica aa Clay 200; sand 600. 
The clay used in these experiments was that described as No. 1 ix this 
report, so that the percentage of common salt in the three series of ex- 
