4 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. V, No. i 
resistant. He found that 0.50 per cent of either carbonate or chlorid 
was fatal to germination in almost all cases. 
Hicks (9) found that— 
Muriate of potash and sodium nitrate used as fertilizers in strengths of 1 per cent 
or more are very detrimental to the germination of seeds, whether applied directly 
or mixed with the soil; that the chief injury to germination from chemical fertilizers 
is inflicted upon the young sprouts after they leave the seed coat and before they 
emerge from the soil, while the seeds themselves are injured only slightly or not at all. 
Shaw (22) after a great many tests was led to the conclusion that 
wherever the chlorid content of soil approached 0.2 per cent beet culture 
was unsuccessful. 
Kearney (12) listed crops most likely to succeed in alkali of various 
concentrations, as follows: Excessive alkali (above 1.5 per cent), native 
and foreign saltbush and salt grasses; very strong alkali (1.0 to 1.5 per 
cent), date palm and pomegranate bushes; strong alkali (0.8 to 1 per cent), 
sugar beets, western wheat-grass, awnless brome-grass, and tall meadow 
oat-grass; medium strong alkali (0.6 to 0.8 per cent), meadow fescue, 
Italian rye-grass, slender wheat-grass, foxtail millet, rape, kale, sorgo, 
and barley for hay; medium alkali (0.4 to 0.6 per cent), redtop, timothy, 
orchard grass, cotton, asparagus, wheat for hay, oats for hay, rye, and 
barley; weak alkali (0.0 to 0.4 per cent), wheat for grain, emmer for 
grain, oats for grain, kafir, milo, proso millet, alfalfa, field peas, vetches, 
horse beans, and sweet clover. 
Miyake (19), working on the effect of the chlorids, nitrates, sulphates, 
and carbonates of sodium, calcium, magnesium, and potassium on rice, 
found that the antagonistic action of individual salts was in part overcome 
when the salts were combined. 
PRELIMINARY STUDIES 
RESULTS IN 1912 
The study of soil alkali in its relation to the growth of plants was 
begun by the Utah Experiment Station in 1912. The first tests were 
made in glass tumblers which held about 200 gm. of soil. The soil 
used was loam from the Greenville (Utah) Experimental Farm. The 
chemical and physical analyses of this soil are given in Tables VIII 
and IX. 
The crops were New Zealand wheat {Triticum aestivum) and sugar 
beets {Beta vulgaris ), 10 seeds being planted in each glass. Each sugar- 
beet seed, or ball, contains more than one germ; hence, more plants 
were usually obtained than the number of seeds planted. 
The salts were added from stock solutions and were thoroughly mixed 
with the soil two or three days before the seeds were planted, July 28. 
The sugar beets were harvested on August 5, and the wheat on August 10. 
The plants that had come up were counted and their height and dry 
weight determined. The results are given in Tables I, II, and III. 
