76 T. Lyrrueton Lyon anv JAmEs A. BizzELu 
doubtless rendered other plant nutrients more available by breaking 
down the compounds in which they were held, as, for instance, the phos- 
phorus of organic matter. 
SUMMARY 
The object of the experiments here described was to observe the re- 
moval, by drainage water and by crops, of calcium and certain other soil 
constituents from Volusia silt loam. This soil is a rather unproductive 
type widely distributed over the hills of southern New York. The ex- 
periments continued thru a period of five years. 
The average annual rainfall for the five years was 32.97 inches. Of the 
annual rainfall, 27.13 inches, or 82.3 per cent, percolated thru the unplanted 
soil, and 20.62 inches, or 62.5 per cent, percolated thru the cropped soil. 
About two-fifths of the rainfall bamed into the | air from the surface of 
the soil and thru the plants growing on it. 
Application of burnt lime had no appreciable effect on the proportion 
of rainfall that percolated thru the soil. Similar experiments with Dun- 
kirk soil reported elsewhere gave similar results. Liming either of these 
soils would probably not facilitate the removal of water thru tile drains. 
The average evapo-transpiration ratio for the cropped soils was 1:908, 
the crops being maize, field peas, oats two years, and barley. The average 
minimum transpiration ratio for the same crops was 1:451. Both of these 
ratios were much wider for the Volusia soil of these experiments than for 
the Dunkirk soil in the experiments previously reported. In this com- 
parison the soil having the greater production of dry matter in crops per 
unit of water used was the one that had the greater concentration of total 
solids in the drainage water. 
The application of lime apparently favored the production of nitrates 
in the Volusia soil used in these experiments, while it had no such effect 
on the Dunkirk soil. The lime requirement of the Dunkirk soil as deter- 
mined by the Veitch method is very little less than that of the Volusia. 
The percentage of calcium is about one-third less in the surface foot of the 
Volusia. In this case the relative calcium content of the soil is a better 
guide to the need of the soil for lime than is the lime requirement as deter- 
mined. 
The amount of nitrogen in the maize, allowing for that in the roots, added 
to that in the drainage water from the same tanks, was greater than the 
amount in the drainage water from the corresponding bare tanks; while 
