Halket .— The Effect of Salt on the Growth of Salicornia. 149 
soil so that the salinity of the water available for the plants in the different 
pans was much greater than was supposed. The results obtained are 
tabulated in Table II, and the figures give some idea of the range of salinity 
in the various pans : 
Table II. 
Range of salinity of water in soil. 
„ . - , . . Salinity of water in soil. 
Strength of solution of ^ Jum 6 
i man s sea sa . before immersion. after immersion. 
1 5-6 2-5 
2 9-9 5-7 
3 17-8 io*5 
4 18-8 12*1 
5 15*0 11*2 
It is evident from these figures that the pans watered with the 1 % 
solution, in which the greatest growth of Salicornia took place, contained 
soil the salinity of which varied within rather wide limits; in the sample 
analysed the variation was from 2.5% to 5-6%. 
These experiments with plants grown in soil, while they show that 
plants of Salicornia ramosissima grow best in the presence of salt, do not 
show what percentage of salt is the most favourable, whether it is that 
which prevails in the normal habitat of the plants—approximately that of 
sea water—or not. The following year a series of water cultures was 
started to ascertain the effect of various amounts of sodium chloride on the 
growth of these plants. 
II. 
Various attempts were made to cultivate plants from seed brought 
from the salt marsh, but these were all unsuccessful; the seeds germinated, 
but the majority of the seedlings died before they had attained any size. 
Successful cultures were made with young seedlings brought from the 
Bouche d’Erquy. Three sets of cultures were started with the following 
plants: (1) Salicornia oliveri y (2) Salicornia ramosissima , and (3) Suaeda 
maritima. The plants were grown in glass jars containing nutritive solu¬ 
tion, made up according to Sach’s formula, with the addition of various 
amounts of sodium chloride. Six variations in the amount of sodium 
chloride were used, the solutions in the jars containing respectively o %, 1 %, 
2 %, 3 %, 4 %, and 5 % of this salt. Care was taken that all other conditions 
for growth should be as far as possible equal for all the plants. It was 
hoped in this way to observe the effect of the different concentrations of 
sodium chloride on the growth of these three plants. 
The cultures were started when the seedlings were quite young, their 
cotyledons were expanded, but no epicotyls were visible. Seedlings were 
