Excerpt from The Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 171: Devoted to Science and the Mechanic Arts; Nos. 1021 1026; January June, 1911 The same investigators5 determined nitrates in soils to a depth of four feet under corn, potatoes, alfalfa and clover. As between the cultivated crops corn and potatoes there was a fairly definite relation, the nitrates being higher under the corn. The soil under the non-cultivated crops was naturally lower in nitrates. Stewart and Greaves6 in a study of nitrates in irrigated Soils planted to corn, potatoes and alfalfa and also on fallow land during a period of three years, and oats one year give figures that show nitrates to be higher under corn than under potatoes and considerably lower under alfalfa and oats. The fallow frequently contained less n'itrates than corn land and sometimes less than potato land. They also found that there was a steady loss Of nitrates in corn and potato soil after the growing period had ceased while fallow plats Similarly cultivated did not show nearly as large a loss. Alfalfa land maintained an almost constant nitrate content throughout the year while corn and potato land showed a decline. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.