subtle differences arising from the use of different irrigant treatments on the microbial population will be detailed elsewhere. The average soil microbial populations of the eight subplots are presented in Table 1. A comparison of the total numbers of fungi and bacteria in the entire soil profile (0-9 cm) is plotted in Fig. 1. It shows that the fungal population nearly doubled and the bacterial population increased by a factor of approximately 12 during the growth period. The relative abundance of the various fungi identified for the three different soil depths is graphically shown in Fig. 2. The relative abundance (Fig. 2) of Mucors before planting was highest in the 0-3 cm soil segment (22%) and about one-half of that value for the 3-6 cm and 6-9 cm depth segments (10%). At harvest, the relative abundance of Mucors had increased by a factor of two for all depth segments, while the distribution pattern as a function of depth was nearly the same as before planting. In general, Aspergillus increased with soil depth from 7% at 0-3 cm to 27% at 6-9 cm before planting. At the time of harvest, Aspergillus had increased by a factor of 2 in the 0-3 cm depth segment (from 7 to 14%), but decreased to approximately 1/14 of its original value in the 6-9 cm depth segment (from 27 to 2%). Before planting, the relative abundance of Penicillium increased with soil depth from 11% (0-3 cm) to 42% (6-9 cm). twice as high (22%) At harvest, it was in the 0-3 cm depth segment, but lower in the remaining segments. The relative abundance of Dematiaceae before planting was highest at 22% in the 0-3 cm depth segment and lowest at less than 1% in the 6-9 em depth segment. At harvest, the lowest count of Demattiaceae at 3% was in the 0-3 em depth segment. It increased with depth to 25% in the 3-6 cm segment and to 19% in the 6-9 cm segment. 74