The Fixation oe Nitrogen. 6i 
The water-soluble in No. 759 amounted to 8.23 percent of the 
air-dried mass; that in No. 1026 to 5.277 percent. These samples 
were taken nineteen months apart. The difference in the depths 
to which the samples were taken is unfortunate as the reader will 
be apt to overlook this in comparing them. I found No. 1026 en¬ 
tirely free from chlorin after the third washing, but the sample 
was rich in calcic sulfate and some difficulty was experienced in 
washing out the last of it as it was almost impossible to filter the 
well washed soil. The difference in the amount of water-soluble is 
less than one might expect, considering the different depths to 
which they were taken. 
Cases NOS. 22 and 23 —These are adjoining orchards and 
ordinarily would be considered as cases of seeped land. I shall 
say but little about orchard No. 23 for all that may be said of No. 
22 is applicable to No. 23, except that No. 22 is a more recent 
development. The soil of these orchards is mostly a sandy loam 
but in places this is either underlaid or wholly displaced by gumbo, 
a calcareous, clayey soil which when thoroughly wet retains water 
wonderfully well. We attempted to dig a hole in one of these 
orchards but the ground was so tough that we abandoned digging 
and tried to force a bar down to water. We were assured before 
we began that we would not succeed, not only because of the 
character of the ground, but also because the water was not so 
near the surface as we imagined. We succeeded in putting the 
hole down nearly four feet but without striking water; the gumbo 
was, however, extremely sticky. An idea of the manner in which 
this soil holds water may be conveyed by the fact, related to me, 
that shortly after we dug this hole a heavy shower filled it with 
water which did not seem to pass into the soil at all and was re¬ 
moved apparently by evaporation. That this ground was not 
always in this condition is proven by the fact that the apple and 
other fruit trees had lived for thirteen years and made a good 
growth in this soil. Further, the dying of the trees in parts of 
this orchard in which these conditions do not obtain shows that 
the wet, sticky conditions did not kill the trees but are themselves 
caused by the conditions which bring about the death of the trees. 
I have elsewhere suggested this because of the peculiar condition 
met with in the soil, but in this case because it seems to follow 
directly after the other trouble. The statement has been made 
in connection with several orchards that while the soil itself was 
practically a mud there was no proper water table found at depths 
of six to six and one-half feet. In the present case we did not 
succeed in digging to a greater depth than a little less than four 
feet, but the house stands at the edge of the orchard and a little 
lower if anything than the point where we tried to dig. The 
