242 University of California Publications in Agricultural Sciences [Vol. 1 



Another column of soil, taken by Professor G. W. Shaw from 

 a strong alkali tract bordering the lake on the east side near 

 Amedee, contained but 0.25 per cent of humus in the first and 

 0.15 per cent in the second foot but none below that depth. 



East Honey Lake Valley. — This desert-like region comprises 

 that portion of Honey Lake Valley in Lassen County that reaches 

 eastward from the lake into Nevada at an elevation of about 

 one hundred feet more than the lands around the lake, and lies 

 between hills of lava debris. The width is about fifteen miles, but 

 increases much more toward the state line. The soil of the plain 

 seems to be, for the most part, quite free from alkali salts, which 

 appear only here and there on the surface ; but toward the state 

 line at lower levels the alkali is more abundant. On the north 

 side of this plain the soil is quite level and sandy, with a reddish 

 sandy subsoil. 



A wide belt of alluvial land borders Skedaddle Creek in a 

 depth of three or four feet near the creek. Beneath this there 

 is, as shown in a well on the place of A. L. Spoon at Stacy 

 Station, two feet of sand and twenty feet of a calcareous clay 

 underlaid in turn by blue sand and clay. A column of soil was 

 taken for examination from this land to a depth of twelve feet. 



It is interesting to note here that a well on the place of Mr. 

 Caudle, north of Stacy, exposed three feet of a reddish soil, three 

 feet of sand, seven feet of boulders, and fifteen feet of white 

 calcareous clay ; below this appeared blue clay to a depth of 

 320 feet from the surface, water being reached at that depth. 



In the center of the valley the surface of the land is in low 

 ridges, the sandy soil being blown into hillocks, the soil being 

 underlaid by a very compact gray silty soil to ten feet ; then 

 beneath that is ten feet of a fine sand, followed by ten feet of a 

 coarse sand in which water is struck in wells. Beneath this lies a 

 blue clay of fifty feet or more in thickness. A column of soil 

 was taken in this land to twelve feet depth, four miles north of 

 Calneva. On the .south of the Western Pacific Railroad from 

 Calneva to the mountains the .soil is coarsely sandy. 



The soil of Stacy is somewhat remarkable in having so high 

 a percentage of humus in its second foot, and especially in having 

 so much throughout the entire column. It compares well with 



