A spectrographic procedure using copper electrodes, a medium dispersion quartz spectrograph (Q 24), and an activated a.c. arc as light source for the determination of micro-quantities of calcium, stronrtium and barium in water and soil extracts is described. 300 mg sodium chloride are added to 25 ml of the solution to be determined, as spectrographic buffer; then 1 ml 0.6 N HCl, and finally 1 mg zinc (as zinc sulfate) is added as internal standard. 0.025 ml of this solution is transferred to the upper and lower electrodes and evaporated to dryness at 55-60℃. The electrodes are excited at 6 amperes for 30 seconds.The analytical line pairs used are: Sr4215.52/Zn4722.16, Ba4554.04/Zn4722.16, Ca4425.44/Zn4722.16.Samples with as low a concentration as 0.1 γ-ml may be determined with a precision of better than ±5% relative deviation, using fixed working curves. The results of the spectrographic determination of calcium are in good agreement with results obtained using a chemical method. Neglecting results of very low calcium contents, the differences between results of the spectrographic method and the chemical method are usually less than ±10%. The influences of calcium and magnesium concentration upon the line intensities of barium and strontium, and the method of its elimination; the influence of solution acidity upon line intensities and the reproducibility of results are also discussed. It is found that the buffer action of sodium chloride is quite effective.