64 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 150. 



Table 1. — Composition of Ditch Water. 



[Parts in 100.000.) 



Bog. 



May 4 and 9, 1912. 



Total 

 Residue. 



Organic 



Matter. 



Total 

 Nitrogen. 



8 (A and B), 

 (A and B), 



14 (A and B). 



15 (A and B), 



71.1 

 64.3 

 56.2 

 52.3 



38.6 

 33.6 



26.2 

 26.3 



1.42 

 1.38 

 1.15 

 1.36 



To estimate the probable losses from a bog it would be necessary to 

 know the capacity of the ditches, since the small cyhnders in our experi- 

 ments bear a much larger proportion to the bog's surface than occurs in 

 field practice. 



The average content of nitrogen in the ditch water was 1.33 parts in 

 100,000 in 1912, and 0.62 part in 100,000 in 1913. Potash was deter- 

 mined only in 1913, when the average content was 3.96 parts in 100,000. 

 Fifty thousand gallons of ditch water, containing 0.98 part of nitrogen and 

 3.96 parts of potash in 100,000 parts of water, would carry away a trifle 

 more than 4 pounds of nitrogen and 16 pounds of potash. It would also 

 be equivalent in volume to the water contained in a ditch 3 feet deep, 

 2 feet wide and a little over 67 rods long, which would be more ditch than 

 is usually employed on an acre of cranberry bog. 



The mixture of surface and seepage water in the small cylinder of the 

 experimental bogs may or may not closely resemble similar water in the 

 ditches of large bogs. It is the writer's opinion that the latter water 

 would be even more dilute, since a sample of ditch water collected at the 



