It has been noticed in the greenhouse of the "Instituto Agronômico de Campinas" that many species of plants developed poorly when planted in seed beds that have been repeatedly used without change of soil. In many cases even the seeds would not germinate in such seed beds. Experiments have showed that the; lack of normal plant development in these beds is the result of the increase in soil salinity. This salinity may be due to additions of fertilizers or to salts introduced in the ordinary applications of water. It was found that the soil solution had an osmotic pressure of 13.5 athmospheres at the wilting point. The tests showed that common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) plants were more susceptible to the soil salinity than were the soybean and the corn plants. Floading of those seed beds several times resulted in the leaching of salts and the restoring of conditions favorable for normal plant growth.