— 9 — 
cent, of black alkali was present is less favorable than was obtained 
in the first series, when twice this amount, or 0.1 per cent., was pres- 
ent. This difference might have been partly due to the varieties 
used. It seems that the Vilmorin is more sensitive to the action of 
the alkali than the other varieties, but the experiments are not nu- 
merous enough to really establish this point, and it must also be re- 
membered that another lot of Vilmorin seed might prove much 
hardier. 
The next series of experiments was conducted with the sodic 
carbonate, or black alkali, alone, at a somewhat higher temperature, 
the average being 73.76° F., and the young plants were allowed to 
remain in the soil to enable us to see how long they would endure 
the alkali. The quantity of alkali added varied from 0.1 to 1.00, 
the quantity increasing regularly by 0.1 per cent. The variety of seed 
used was the Vilmorin; a blank was run at the same time. In six 
days, 90 per cent, of the seeds in No. 1, containing 0.1 per cent, 
black alkali, had germinated, none of the others containing alkali 
germinated, though the experiment was continued for twenty days. 
The seeds in the glass to which no alkali had been added all ger- 
minated, and continued to grow in a normal manner so long as we 
continued to observe them. 
The glass containing 0.1 percent, of sodic carbonate was allowed 
to remain five days after germinating, when the seedlings were no- 
ticed to be drooping. They were carefully removed from the sand 
by washing, and seven out of the nine had the plumule corroded, 
and the rootlets of the other two were already blackened. The 
blank was allowed to remain exposed to the same conditions for nine 
days longer, and at the end of this period were still healthy and 
growing. There can be no doubt but that the alkali had caused 
the death of the plants in the other glass, proving that, while 0.1 per 
cent, of black alkali in the soil will not prevent the germination of 
beet seed, the young plants cannot endure this amount. If the 
plant had already been established, before this percentage of the al- 
kali had been brought into the soil, it might endure it. I am, how- 
ever, inclined, by what I have seen of the deportment of the beet 
plant toward alkali, to doubt whether, even under such conditions, it 
would survive, especially if, as is the case in Colorado, there should 
be a rapid evaporation from the surface of the soil. 
The next and last series of sprouting experiments* was made to 
study the effects of still smaller quantities of sodic carbonate, as the 
maximum amount of sodic carbonate which can be present without 
any serious disadvantage, evidently lies below one tenth of one per 
cent. 
■*The results have been incorporated in the table under the heading of sodic 
carbonate. 
