12 The Colorado Experiment Station 
We even went further in considering the part that the ground- 
water might play and presented the fact that the drain-water taken 
from a drain that runs east and west between the heavily alkalized 
land and some of these nitre-spots, so that the alkali land was north 
and the nitre-spots south of the drain with the fall of the land to 
the south. This drain-water carried one-tenth part nitric nitrogen 
per million and is the water which, if not intercepted by the drain, 
would flow beneath the nitre-areas. It carried 8,489 parts total 
solids in solution with 2,122 parts chlorin and one-tenth part of 
nitric nitrogen. The surface soil of the nitre-spots in this soil 
carried 98,820 parts water-soluble per million, 43,480 parts of 
chlorin and 494-0 parts of nitric nitrogen. Another sample from 
the area here considered gave 44,200 parts water-soluble, 13,260 of 
chlorin and 884 parts of nitric nitrogen. There is no relation be¬ 
tween the alkalis of the neighboring lands, the solids held in solution 
by the ground-waters, or the water-soluble portion of the alkalized 
soil and the nitrates found in these nitre-spots. A similar soil in 
the same section of the country, perhaps seven miles distant from 
the preceding locality, gave the following results: 55,300 p. p. m. 
of water-soluble, 5,500 p. p. m. of chlorin and 4,203 p. p. m. of 
nitric nitrogen in which we have the ratio for nitric nitrogen to 
chlorin 1 :1 -33. 
It may be convenient for some purposes to state our results 
in the form of this ratio, nitrogen to chlorin, but it means nothing 
and fails to convey an adequate idea of the relative quantities of the 
respective salts represented, especially to those who may be ac¬ 
customed to think in terms of these salts, i. e. in terms of nitrates 
and chlorids instead of nitric nitrogen and chlorin. In the last 
sample for instance, we have the ratio of 1 n.33 for the nitric nitro¬ 
gen to the chlorin, which tends to leave the impression upon the 
reader that the nitrates are subordinate in quantity because the value 
one and one-third is greater than one. The amounts of these salts 
present, calculated as sodic salts, were really 25,218 parts of sodic 
nitrate and 8,800 parts of sodic chlorid; in other words, instead of 
the chlorid predominating, the nitrates were present in three 
times as great a quantity as the chlorids. The actual ratio for these 
salts is 110.34. We will take another example from another sec¬ 
tion of the State, in which we have 33,200 p. p. m. of water-soluble, 
658.4 p. p. m. chlorin, and 987.6 p. p. m. of nitric nitrogen. The 
ratio for the nitric nitrogen to the chlorin in this case is 1 :o.66. To 
the person who knows the respective factors for converting this 
ratio into that of the nitrates and chlorids, it may convey a definite 
idea of their relative quantities, but even such a person is apt to 
overlook the great difference in the quantites of these salts 
