The Fixation oe Nitrogen. 39 
iqio so that there was no good opportunity to observe the forma¬ 
tion of crusts and mealy portions. The irngatmg furrows how¬ 
ever showed the brown lines very strongly in places. A sample 
of the soil taken from the northeastern section of the orchard to 
depth of one foot showed only 0.062 percent of the matter soluble 
in water but this soluble portion reacted like a pure nitrate solution. 
The tree’s were burning in this section of the orchard at the-time t te 
sample was taken. I had known for several years that a small par 
possibly one-quarter of an acre, of this orchard, close to a deep 
wash was affected with this trouble, but in the early part of June, 
1910,’ I found the trouble more general and it grew quite rapicUy 
in severity and extent till there was scarcely a tree in a lai^ 
portion ofthe orchard but that showed more or less burning, and 
the present outlook is very bad. 
IT LII 
ANALYSES u 
Water-Soluble Water-Soluble 
L NoTd5s3 ry 1^1072 
March 2*1811 2 ' 1911 
Percent Percent 
1 A OQC 31.808 
Calcic sulfate . 0^007 12.813 
Calcic chlorid . 14.940 
Magnesic chlorid . A - 
Magnesic nitrate . 2.3 29 
Potassic chlorid . 1797 - 
Potassic nitrate . l ' 1 * 1 1 983 
Sodic chlorid . , fi0 35.556 
So lie nitrate . 0.267 
Iron and Aluminic oxid. X’rJ? 0.304 
Silicic acid . ‘ __ ___ 
100.000 100.000 
Sample No. 1063 was taken in March and No. 1072 in1 May, 
1911 from the southwestern section of the orchard The total area 
of this orchard is ninety acres. A few trees died in this section of 
the orchard in 1910 but the death rate in May, 1911, is most alai 
ng Many trees that leafed out fully in the early part of the 
month May, 1911, were killed outright by the 3°*, as . 
six or’eight consecutive trees in a row, all succumbing in exact y 
the same manner. The water plane of the l°wes P°j 11 sur ’ 
i an d was at this time four and three-quarters teet be 
face I wish to emphasize the following two facts; first, that 
apple trees in our country do not root deeper than two and a half 
ket as a rule; second, that it is very improbable that even the 
oldest reader of this bulletin has ever seen f ”“^£5 
comparable to the facts here presented and I am fu Jr convm 
that they are so entirely beyond his observation and knowledge 
that he can neither conceive of nor justly pass judgmen upon 
them for he does not know the facts. 
I have at all times avoided anything approaching a dissertation 
