32 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
Case No. 8, in regard to the drainage or water conditions, the 
simple fact remains that the twenty-eight-year-old apple trees, 
beginning in 1909, have practically all died, and the corn planted in 
1910 was a total failure as a crop. When we consider samples 
982, 989 and 989a, we see that the surface five inches of the soil 
contains from 1,440 to 1,660 pounds of sodic or other nitrate per 
acre. Approximately this depth was taken because these samples 
were taken after the corn had failed to come up and it was thought 
that the results obtained would give us an idea of the lower limits 
of nitrates which would prohibit germination. We knew per¬ 
fectly well that this would not establish anything beyond giving 
us an idea of what quantity will prohibit the germination of corn. 
The quantity which effects this is less than 0.09 percent of the 
soil. Sample No. 1074 is a surface sample from the place where 
oats, potatoes, etc., will not grow but pear trees continue to do 
quite well. We find that the top two inches of this land carries 
2,578 pounds of nitrates per acre—I surmise that the pear trees 
endure this apparently better than apple trees and the other plants 
because they feed at greater depths and it may be true, as it 
actually seemed to be, that they are more tolerant of these salts than 
the other plants, but they are not immune for I have seen pear 
trees that have been killed just as the apple trees were killed. I 
repeat that the facts adduced pertaining to the two pieces of land 
mentioned under Case No. 8 apply with full force to Case No. 9, in 
fact these cases might have been discussed as a single one if the 
distance between them and the age of the orchard in Case 9 had not 
made it ill advised to do so. 
Case No. 10 —This is a peach orchard and the part referred 
to in this paragraph has been reset a number of times, the last time 
to pear trees, but without success. The part very badly affected 
is about one-third of an acre in extent, but there is probably three 
acres in all that is damaged by these conditions. This soil is a 
sandy loam three feet deep, underlaid by a coarse granitic gravel. 
The surface is brown and there is no vegetation. The land is no 
lower than the surrounding country. There was no excessive 
water in this or in adjacent lands. Two samples of soil were taken, 
one to a depth of one foot, No. 874; this sample showed the 
presence of 1.127 percent soluble in water; the other, No. 880, was 
a surface sample taken to a depth of one and one-half inches which 
showed the presence of 5.528 percent of the air-dried sample soluble 
in water. 
