Oct. 4, 1915 
Effect of Alkali Salts in Soils on Crops 
37 
the height was much more affected by the salts than in loam. The rise 
in the curve at 10,000 p. p. m. is due to the fact that no plants grew at 
this concentration in the more toxic salts and not to the actual increase 
in height. 
Figure 42 shows the effect of each salt in the three soils on the height 
of wheat. The same general results which have already been pointed 
out in connection with germination and dry-matter production are noted 
here. Potassium nitrate produced the shortest plants in the loams, 
Fig. 37.— Curve showing the number of days for wheat plants to come up in College loam, Greenville loam, 
and sand containing various salts. Average for all concentrations. 
while sodium chlorid and sodium carbonate produced the shortest plants 
in sand. 
Figure 43 shows the height of plants in soils to which three salts in 
combinations of various kinds had been added. This diagram shows 
that the chlorids and nitrates had a great effect on the height of plants, 
while the carbonates and sulphates had less. 
The effect of the concentrations of sodium chlorid and sodium sulphate 
on the height of different crops is shown in figure 44. While the curves 
are somewhat irregular, they show the same results that have already 
been brought out regarding the shortening of plants by alkali. 
Figure 45 shows the effect of individual salts on the height of various 
crops. It will be noted that in practically all cases the crops were 
shorter where sodium chlorid was present than with the other salts; 
also that sodium sulphate usually gave the highest plants. 
