Antitoxic Action of Certain Bases 



158 



TABLE 20. 



Experiment with Canada Field Pea. 

 FOR Ten Plants 



Duration, Thirty Days. Data 



Composition of solution 

 (N/1000 CaCh as the solvent) 



N/25 KCl 



N/25 KCl+N/500 BaCU. . . . 

 N/25 KCl+N/1,000 BaCh. . 

 N/25 KCI+N/2,000 BaCU. . 

 N/100 KCI+N/ 1,000 BaCU. 

 N/1,000 KCl+N/1,000 BaCl 



N/500 BaCl2 



N/1,000 BaCh 



N/1,000 CaCh 



Green 

 weight 

 of tops 

 (grams) 



Too dry 



to weigh 



1.75 



3.15 



2.35 



2.55 



2.10 







Weight not 



taken 



5.20 



Green 



weight 

 of roots 

 (grams) 



3.75 

 5.37 



5.77 

 4.85 

 2.68 

 2.50 

 



Slight 

 3.46 



Total 



green 



weight 



(grams) 



7.12 

 8.92 

 7.20 

 5.23 

 4.60 

 



Slight 

 8.66 



Average 

 length 

 of tops 

 (centi- 

 meters) 



3.0 

 5.0 

 6.0 

 3.5 

 6.0 

 5,0 

 



3.0 



8.0 



Average 

 length 



of roots 

 (centi-, 

 meters) 



5.0 

 10.0 

 12.0 



7.0 

 10.0 



8.0 







Slight 

 10.0 



Calcium, potassium, sodium, or magnesium, and strontium 

 Suzuki (1910), while endeavoring to determine whether or not strontium 

 can replace calcium in plants, called attention to the toxicity of this 

 element. Osterhout (1907) has indicated that strontium has a protective 

 action with respect to magnesium. He says: " In a solution of .05 M 

 MgCl2 or MgS04 or Mg(N03)2 grains of wheat make scarcely any growth. 

 But if to a solution of 100 c.c. MgCl2 .05 M we add 20 c.c. SrCl2 a very 

 fine growth is observed." 



The writer finds from experiments with pea and wheat seedlings that 

 calcium, potassium, sodium, and magnesium each reduces the deleterious 

 action of strontium, and that when strontium is present in solution with 

 either of these the growth is greater than in pure solutions of these sub- 

 stances, as shown in the following tables. It will be noted that the growth 

 in solutions in which nitrates were employed greatly exceeds that when 

 chlorids are used. In the different tables, therefore, the data are not 

 comparable. 



Calciu77i and strontium. — From tables 21 and 22 it is evident that 

 calcium and strontium have a mutually protective action. Calcium is 

 very effective in reducing the harmful properties of strontium. N/100 

 Sr(N03)2 is strongly toxic to both tops and roots of seedlings, while 

 N/500 Sr(N03)2 is injurious to the roots. When solutions of N/20 

 Ca(N03)2 and N/100 Ca(N03)2, respectively, are mixed with the above 



