454 
Journal oj Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXX, No. 5 
A striking uniformity is observed in 
the amount of drainage water leached 
through each pot. The small dis¬ 
crepancies may readily be accounted for 
by the fact that the bottoms of some of 
the clay pots were slightly raised in the 
center. This would allow a certain 
amount of water to accumulate and 
remain in these pots after each rain. 
The drainage water for January and 
February was combined for analysis, 
and likewise the March drainage was 
added to the June drainage water. 
Owing to the small rainfall for April 
and May there was no percolation of 
water through the pots for these months. 
SULPHUR IN DRAINAGE WATER AND 
LEACHINGS 
It is not known what proportion of 
the total sulphur in the soil is present 
in the organic form and how much is 
free or combined with the soil minerals. 
In soils well supplied with organic 
matter probably a large portion of the 
sulphur is organic, because sulphur 
forms part of the protein molecule 
and is therefore present in all plants 
and animals. The decomposition of 
organic sulphur compounds results in 
the formation of thiosulphates, hy¬ 
drogen sulphide, and free sulphur, 
and all of these substances may be 
oxidized to sulphates by the sulphur- 
oxidizing microorganisms. This pro¬ 
cess, termed sulphofication, is probably 
responsible for the large losses of 
sulphur in the drainage water. Lyon 
and Bizzell 4 have tabulated the results 
of a number of investigators and found 
that the loss of sulphur in drainage 
water varied from 8 to 281 lbs. per acre, 
depending upon the type of soil and 
the kind of cropping system followed. 
By applying elemental sulphur to 
soils and measuring the sulphates 
coming through in the drainage water, a 
definite idea of the rate and extent 
of sulphofication may be determined. 
In Table III are found the results of the 
sulphur analyses of the drainage water 
and leachings obtained from the 
variously treated soils in both ex¬ 
periments. 
Table III .—-Amount of sulphur in drainage water , leachings , and soil extracts 
Pot 
Treatment (pounds 
Experiment 1 (field pots)—sulphur in pounds 
per 2,000,000 pounds of soil 
Experiment 2 (green¬ 
house pots)—sulphur in 
pounds per 2,000,000 
pounds of soil 
No. 
per acre) 
! i 
! Janu- 1 
De- ary and 
cember j Feb- 
i uary ! 
March 
and 
June 
Total 
for five 
months 
Soil 
ex¬ 
tracts 
Total 
water- 
soluble 
sulphur 
Leach¬ 
ings 
Soil 
ex¬ 
tracts 
Total 
water- 
soluble 
sulphur 
1 
Control.. 
11.7 
1 
14.5 
21.1 
47.3 
29.0 
76.3 
33.2 
10.9 
44.1 
2 
.do...... 
8.5 
4.7 
22.2 
35.4 
22.0 
57.4 
41.3 
12.0 
53.3 
Average. 
10.1 
9.6 
21.6 
41.3 
25.9 
66.8 
37.2 
11.4 
48.7 
3 
Uninoculated sulphur 
186.. 
9.8 
11.1 
66.9 
87.8 
141.6 
229.4 
151.5 
108.2 
259.7 
4 
.do... 
11.3 
13.1 
106.9 
l 
131.3 
156. 5 , 
287.8 
200.7 
80.4 
281.1 
Average. 
10.5 
12.1 
86.9 
109.5 
149.0 
258.6 
176.1 
94.3 
270.4 
5 
Inoculated sulphur 189 
11.2 
10.2 
77.5 
98.9 
138.9 
237.8 
169.9 
114.3 
284.2 
6 
.do. 
9.4 
10.4 
102.0 
121.8 
163.9 
285.7 
138.1 
87.2 
225.3 
Average. 
10.3 
10.3 
89.7 
110.3 
151.4 
261.7 
154.0 
100.7 
254.7 
7 
Uninoculated sulphur 
1000.. 
8.7 
9.8 
156.9 
175.4 
416.1 
591.5 
544.6 
746.5 
1,291.1 
8 
_do... 
9.3 
17.8 
146.3 
173.4 
456.6 
630.0 
515.6 
649.5 
1,165.1 
Average.. 
9.0 
13.8 
151.6 
174.4 
436.3 
610.7 
530.1 
698.0 
1,228.1 
9 
Inoculated sulphur 
1015.... 
1 13.2 
13.4 
182.5 
209.1 
483.5 
692.6 
552.4 
711.1 
1, 263. 5 
10 
.do. 
10.1 
14.0 
154.5 
178.6 
472.0 
650.6 
529.8 
598.4 
1,128. 2 
Average.. 
11.6 
13.7 
168.5 
193.8 
477.7 
671.6 
541.1 
654.7 
1,195. 8 
11 
Gypsum 1000. 
100.2 
169.1 
30.5 
299.8 
47.2 
347.0 
98.6 
69.9 
168.5 
12 
.do.... 
104.8 
180.4 
30.3 
315.5 
35.0 
350.5 
178.4 
65.4 
243.8 
Average.. 
102.5 
174.7 
30.4 
307.6 
41.1 
348.7 
138.5 
67.6 
206.1 
* Lyon, T. L., and Bizzell, J. A. lysimeter experiments, records for tanks 1 to 12 during the 
years 1910 to 1914 inclusive. N. Y. Cornell Agr. Exp. Sta. Mem. 12,115 p., illus. 1918. 
