MOVEMENTS ( ) K SALTS IX SOILS. 



85 



far as the evidence shows, these relations between the two 

 groups of soils may be the result of coincidences, for in the 

 eight soil types we have three where less salts are recovered 

 after the longer capillary washing and five where the amounts 

 are more, the cases, therefore, being nearly equally divided and 

 one of the poorer soils standing in line with the stronger soils. 

 That capillary sweeping does have the effect of permitting 

 more nitrates to be recovered from soils than can be secured by 

 ordinary washing has been proven and will be referred to after 

 discussing the! effects of the capillary movement upon the other 

 ingredients determined. 



MOVEMENT OF LIME BY CAPILLARITY. 



The observations of Way, Frankland and Voelcker, which 

 have been cited in Bulletin "B," Bureau of Soils, "Amounts 

 of Plant Food Readily Recoverable from Field Soils with Dis- 

 tilled Water,' 7 p. 16, show that lime passes from soils into drain- 

 age waters more abundantly than any other base, and from this 

 relation it would be expected to be moved rapidly by capillarity 

 also. If reference is made to the tables it will be seen that this 

 has been the case with each and every soil type. 



In the next table there are brought into comparison the 

 amounts of potash and lime recovered from the surface layer 

 and from the bottom layer of each soil type after 50 days of 

 capillary movement. 



Relative amounts of potash and of lime moved by capillarity which 

 remain water-soluble. 



