State Agricultural Society. • 443 



lakes, and no doubt they were, and the water from adjoining hills and 

 plains ran into them and carried the alkali with it. As proof that water 

 carries alkali with it, we seldom ever find alkali on the margin of a 

 running stream; but go back from the stream till you strike the land 

 not necessarily drained by the stream, and there you will find the alkali, 

 if the water docs not leach it out of the soil and carry it away with it. 

 AViiy then is not alkali found on the banks of the stream as well as back 

 from it? 



But again, to be more practical, you may take earth that is so strongly 

 impregnated with it that it will taste almost as strong as potash; take 

 that same dirt, pulverize it, put in an old-fashioned ash hopper, and con- 

 tinue to pour pure water on it, and you will soon leach all the alkali out 

 of the soil thus treated. But we are asked how it is that in some cases 

 it will be found on the surface, and dig down one or two feet and no 

 alkali is to be found. This may be accounted for in two ways. One is, 

 that it might have been brought by water from elsewhere and left on 

 the surface. The other is, that it was forced up from below by seepage 

 water and attraction of the sun, till it reached the surface. There it 

 comes in contact with a heav}^ soil of adobe character, unites with this 

 soil, congeals, and forms a hard substance almost impervious to water, 

 at the same time forming a source of attraction to draw the alkali from 

 a loose, sandy subsoil. Hence the apparent freeness of the subsoil from 

 alkali. My observations have been that a sandy surface, with a loose 

 subsoil, will never be troubled much with alkali, because as the water 

 sinks down it carries the alkali with it. 



Again, we are asked why it appears in the Summer and Fall, when the 

 surface is thy. We answer, it has either been retained there by the 

 hard surface referred to above, or is drawn up by the same attraction 

 that draws the moisture from below in the Summer. Now to sum up 

 the whole theory. Believing as I do that water will carry alkali with 

 it, I necessarily believe that thorough draining is the only practical way 

 of reclaiming alkalied lands; and it as necessarily follows that land that 

 cannot be thoroughly drained cannot be reclaimed. AVe may neutralize 

 the alkali to a certain extent by thorough cultivation, by heavy manuring, 

 or by cropping it to beets. Beets will succeed on alkalied land better 

 than any other crop I know of, and no doubt absorb and extract a con- 

 siderable portion of the alkali; and if the alkali exists only on the surface, 

 with no substrata of it below, nor no water to carry it on again, you 

 might get your land comparatively reclaimed by a succession of beet 

 crops. But the same cause that brought the alkali to the surface once 

 will do it again, unless the connection is broken. This, I think, can only 

 be done by drains. I would suggest underground drains. These, the 

 most expensive at the start, will be much the cheapest in the end, as 

 the}'- more thoroughly drain, and at the same time give a free use of the 

 land. It matters not Avhether the rain washes the alkali down, or the 

 seepage forces it up. In either case the ditch will carry it on'. These 

 same drains, if properly arranged, may be used in the Summer for 

 irrigating purposes; and here let me remark, that it will not require more 

 than one fourth the water to irrigate in this way that it requires if put 

 on the surface in the usual way. I think the best and cheapest material 

 for these drains is the earthcrn pipe, called tiling pipe. Clark, who keeps 

 the pottery near Sutter's Fort, makes it all sizes, and in large quantities. 

 A sample of the remarkable eifect of underground irrigation may be 

 seen in his gardens. And now, in conclusion, permit me to say that if I 

 have, in this humble essay, dropped any hints that will bo of use to the 

 public, my object will be accomplished. 



