New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 
105 
tions of soluble matters usually present in soil water influence the 
height to which it is capable of rising by capillarity ? As a partial 
answer to this question, two capillary tubes of which the diameters 
were 80 and 90 micro-millimetres respectively, and the length fourteen 
inches, were attached to a standard rule graduated to fortieths of an 
inch. This rule was then clamped to a support in a vertical position, 
and the lower end of the tubes introduced into the liquids named in 
the table below. The figures expressing the height to which the various 
liquids rose in the tubes represent fortieths of an inch, and are the 
average for all the trials, and for the two tubes : 
, The Influence of Matters in Solution Upon the Height to Which 
Water Kises in Capillary Tubes. 
Manure water 
One-half manure water 
One-fourth manure water 
Distilled water 
One-fifth manure water 
One-tenth manure water 
Distilled water 
Water filtered through muck 
Water filtered through garden soil 
Distilled water 
Tempera- 
ature F. 
Specific 
gravity 
at 49° F. 
Number 
of trials. 
Capillary 
height. 
• Date. 
68° 
1,010 
12 
187.79 
Feb. 22 
68 
16 
189.62 
Feb. 22 
68 
8 
190.94 
Feb. 22 
68 
8 
190.87 
Feb. 22 
68 
12 
189.44 
Mar. 7 
68 
12 
189.87 
Mar. 7 
68 
12 
190.60 
Mar. 7 
68 
1,667 
36 
189. 
Feb. 26 
65 
1,007 
24 
191.04 
Feb. 24 
65 
24 
191.67 
Feb. 24 
It is evident from the figures that the tendency of all the solutions 
is to lower the height, but the influence is so small as to be practically 
of little importance. Other tests were made with water filtered through 
w T ood ashes, and with solutions of sulphate and muriate of potash, 
nitrate of soda, phosphate of lime and sulphate of ammonia. In all 
the tendency was to reduce the height, and in proportion to the strength 
of the solution. 
The Kate of Capillary Flow Through Different Soils. 
The rate at which water passes through a soil by capillarity is of 
more importance to the agriculturist than the ultimate height to which 
it may rise in the same soil, because a soil capable of supporting a crop 
must necessarily be within reach of capillary water. A series of experi- 
ments was undertaken to discover the comparative rate at which water 
passes through samples of garden soil, sand, clay and muck. 
Glass combustion tubes of about nine-sixteenths inch inside diam- 
eter, and five to six feet in length, were bent slightly at one end and 
attached to a board in such a way that when the board was placed in 
a horizontal position the bent end of the tubes could enter a dish of 
water. One such tube w T as filled with each of the soils above named, 
14 
