Fixation ot Nitrogen in Coeorado Soies 
21 
ANALYSIS OF RESIDUE FROM 
GROUND-WATER, Laboratory No. 
2372 
Total solids in this water were 9S08.0 
p. p. m. 
Percent 
Calcic sulfate . . . . 
Magnesic sulfate . 
Magnesic chlorid . 
Magnesic nitrate . . 
Potassic nitrate . . . 
i^odic -itrate 
Sodic silicate 
Manganic oxid (br) 
Excess sodic oxid . 
16.139 
41.647 
7.973 
4.519 
1.488 
24.544 
0.91'1 
0.148 
2.618 
100.000 
I The 280-foot well was driven a few feet east of the well 
first dug to furnish water for the owners’ cattle and which 
caused the death of 17 head in a few days. This water was not 
, analyzed. The well was so filled np with dirt and drainage from 
\ the corral that it was unfit for analytical purposes. The water 
j from this 280-foot well is used for watering the stock without 
I any bad effects. The people sometimes drink it but state that 
it physics them. This well is sunk in a Cretaceous shale and is 
free from nitrates. 
The laboratory sample 2372 was taken less than 300 feel 
south of the corral as a substitute for the first well that was 
dug. This was the best that w^e could do in the case though we 
were at the time satisfied that it was not a dependable sanjple 
for this purpose, but it can be considered as an independent 
sample, which it really is. In the 280-foot well we have no 
nitrates but an abundance of sulfates, while in the ground- 
I water the total solids carry better than 35 percent of nitrates.. 
The organic matter in this residue was rather abundant, 
but can scarcely be appealed to to account for the unusual ex- 
cess of bases. We must appeal to the possible presence of basic 
I salts or organic matter to account for this excess. We have in 
many such cases repeated the whole analysis only to obtain the 
' same figures. It is rather common to have a slight excess of 
bases in analyses of alkalis. 
The water represented by our laboratory number 2,371 
( is locally known as a poisonous water because it frequently 
causes the death of cattle allowed to drink it, especially if they 
I have been just brought in off the range. This water is very rich 
, in total solids, 9,025.0 p.p.m., of which 36 percent or 3,247 p.p.m. 
are nitrates. The number of cattle that have died each year 
has been less than one would expect, judging from the amount 
