88 



The absolute amounts of magnesia which were recovered 

 from the 24 inches of these soils are given in the next table. 



Amount of magnesia recovered from 24 inches of soil after capil- 

 lary movement. 



In these cases the 50 days of capillary movement have re- 

 sulted in a larger accumulation of magnesia in form to be re- 

 covered with the distilled water, as was the case with the pot- 

 ash ; the differences, however, are very small and in the case 

 of the Hagerstown Loam and of the Miami Loam the relation 

 is reversed. 



MOVEMENT OF PHOSPHATES BY CAPILLARITY. 



The tendency of nitrates to change one way or the other is 

 so great, on account of biological influences, that the capillary 

 movement of them cannot well be indicated by such a series of 

 observations, except in a most general way. It will be seen 

 from the tables of details that there had been a heavy accumu- 

 lation of the nitrates in the surface layer and a large reduction 

 of them in the lower portions of the columns, which was un- 

 doubtedly due, to a great extent, to capillary movement. 



In the case of the phosphates, notwithstanding the addition 

 of them to the soil with the solution, the absorption was so 

 strong as to reduce the amounts which could be recovered to so 



