Relation of Nonmailable Water to Hygroscopic Coefficient 95 
was still alive and none of its leaves showed signs of injury from 
drouth. Even the adverse conditions of the first week in July 
failed to kill the branch, but from that time on it gradually died. 
On July 24 it was quite dead and the plant was harvested, it 
bearing 190 seeds.' The cylinder was opened four days later. The 
root distribution was similar to that in the two cylinders just 
described. The surface foot contained — 3.6 per cent free water 
and the subsoil an average of — 0.6 per cent, the latter being 
quite uniformly distributed when it is considered that the sub- 
soil consisted of five different soils. 
The plants in the Holdrege and Hastings cylinders were very 
similar in their development. On May 6 both had formed 
branches, 3 and 2 inches long respectively. On May 30 the plants 
were still quite green and on each the first head was ripe and a 
second, formed on the branch, was in bloom (fig. 30, 4 and 5). 
The second head on each was ripe by the end of June and the 
plant in the Hastings cylinder was dead by July 5, while the 
other was not entirely dead until July 24. In the case of each 
the first head bore a fair amount of seed, 142 and 177 grains 
respectively, while the heads on the branches bore only 2 and 3 
kernels. Roots in both cylinders were abundant thruout the 
subsoil. The surface foot contained less than - — 3.0 per cent free 
water and the subsoil in both contained practically none. 
On April 15 the plant in the Lincoln cylinder, not yet having 
put forth a head, was seen to be dying, altho on the day before 
it had shown no injury. Two days later it was dead and quite 
dry, the whole plant remaining as green as tho it had been cut 
off and dried in the sun. It was evident that the sudden death of 
this plant was due to some other cause than lack of moisture 
in the soil and this view was confirmed by the moisture data ob- 
tained when the cylinder was opened on May 6. There was an 
abundance of free water in the fifth and sixth feet and from 
3 to 5 per cent even in the second and third feet. The moisture 
content of the second and third feet was. however, from 2 to 
3 per cent below the wilting coefficient while that of the upper 
three-fourths of the fourth foot was at the wilting coefficient. 
Roots extended to the bottom of the cylinder, but were not 
numerous below the fourth foot. 
