The Ground Water. 
39' 
taken to this depth, i. e., two inches, which is a goodly supply. Our 
determinations, however, show that this statement cannot be ex¬ 
tended to the second two inches, and much less to the first foot of 
soil, the conventional depth on which to base such computations. 
Whatever the effects of our conditions may have been, they were 
certainly not prohibitive of the production of nitric acid. 
§ 112. I can find no examinations of ground waters with 
which to compare my results. The nitric acid in drain waters is 
another question, and I shall subsequently, in another bulletin, show 
that drain waters and ground waters from the same territory are 
not comparable, so that nitric acid determinations in drain waters 
are not available for my present purpose. I am compelled by the 
lack of better data to use samples of another ground water taken by 
myself as the basis of my statements in regard to the effects of our 
conditions upon this subject. 
* 
§ 113. A sample of ground water from a field lying to the 
west of my plot, several feet higher, and of an entirely different as¬ 
pect and character, was taken 10 days after irrigation and showed 
the presence of 0.718 part of nitric acid per million. This land is 
in good condition, is not alkalized, water logged, or subject to the 
adverse conditions obtaining in my plot. The field, however, was 
in alfalfa at the time the sample was taken, July 5th, and the sam¬ 
ple represented the ground water in the soil at that time, for the 
sample was taken immediately after the hole was dug. The nitric 
acid in this sample is lower than was usually found in ground 
water from my plot, but is not so low as was sometimes found in it, 
but as these smaller quantities are exceptional, it is probably safe to 
conclude that the ground water in my plot is quite as rich, or even 
richer, in nitric acid than the average ground water of the neigh¬ 
boring soils. 
I did not know, nor even suspect at the time these samples 
were taken, that I could not compare them with drain waters, nor 
did I fully appreciate the fact that a sample of water taken from the 
soil represented so little beyond the conditions prevailing within a 
very few feet of the point where it was taken. 
§ 114. Judging from the amount of nitric acid found in the 
aqueous extract of the soil, especially in that from the first two 
inches and from the amount usually present in the ground water 
as represented by the wells, ranging up to 6 or 8 parts per million, 
but as a rule from 2 or a little less to 5 parts per million, the alka¬ 
lized condition was not unfavorable to the formation of nitric acid, 
The abundance of proteids in the beet crops grown on this ground, 
they being slightly higher than the average in this respect, also sup¬ 
port this view. 
