226 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 170. 



When the soil is charged with gas, digging it up and aerating it is 

 beneficial and in the case of severe leakage it is well to leave the trench 

 open for a few days, if possible. On the other hand, boring holes in the 

 soil and filling with water or lime is a perfectly useless practice, 

 generally believed that if young trees are planted near others which have 



died from gas poisoning, they will not live, but this is true only in some 

 cases. If the soil is thoroughly saturated with gas, bad results will follow, 

 but if the trees are planted in fresh loam and the old soil aerated, there 

 is little likelihood of the tree dying. 



Gas escaping into the soil from a leak follows the line of least resistance. 

 For this reason, if leakage occurs in the street in front of a house, one can 



