THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. ■465 



to the casual observer indicates a total failure of the experiment. But 

 an examination of the tract, interviews with those who are familiar with 

 it, and interviews wiJi the owner suggest the very evident conclusion 

 that, in spite of the exceedingly poor soil involved, largely due to the 

 unfavorable hardpan condition, the plan of drainage was entirely satis- 

 factory and that if it had been persisted in by the owner, instead of 

 encouraging a return to Bermuda pasture, a permanent improvement 

 would have resulted over at least a portion of the twenty acres. Rather 

 than demonstrating the failure of drainage in this section, it is believed 

 that the experiment on the Baker tract shows, first, that there are diffi- 

 culties connected with drainage of the very poor land, and second, that 

 thorough and persistent farming is as necessary as a good tile system. 



Bore Tract. — When the experiment was undertaken on this tract in 

 1907 it was estimated by the owner that at the rate the vines were then 

 dying the entire forty acres would become unproductive from the rise 

 of ground water and alkali within a few years. Of 1,000 young vines 

 set out in April, 1908, after flooding and draining, 95 per cent made a 

 very strong growth and lived. In addition old vines that had practi- 

 cally ceased to throw out shoots began to do so, although these nearly 

 dead vines ultimately succumbed. The old producing vines made a 

 more healthy growth than for several years, remaining green throughout 

 the summer instead of turning yellow with the first hot days of June, 

 as before. According to Mr. Dore, an equally marked effect was then 

 and has since been produced on the quantity and quality of the yield. 

 The experiment was concluded by the Irrigation Investigations in 1909, 

 but the tract has been revisited by the writer within the present week. 

 The land has been neither flooded nor irrigated since 1908, and no new 

 plantings of vines have been made later than one year following the 

 period of the experiment. Some more of the old producing vines have 

 died, several acres of the land thus bared beine planted to pome- 

 granates. Some of the pomegranates have also died, but those were 

 located alike in the land most free from and most charged with alkali, 

 ^tnd the owner attributes their failure to causes other than alkali which 

 he can not explain. But the young vines that have been planted and 

 that have not been injured by other causes have apparently made a 

 highly satisfactory growth and beyond any question whatever demon- 

 strate the entire success of the experiment. Some of the old vines are 

 still dropping out in patches and it is evident, so far as conclusions are 

 warranted from casual observations, that the land, which has had abso- 

 lutely no .surface water since the experiment was in progress in 1908 

 other than light precipitation, needs additional leachings. Owing to 

 the continued low price of raisins Mr. Dore has not been encouraged to 

 replant his vineyard where vines are missing, believing that possibly 

 alfalfa will be more profitable, considering all circumstances. Conse- 

 quently results are not available for young vines over the entire forty 

 acres. Not one acre of Mr. Dore's tract has, however, gone back to 

 pasture, for with the exception of a brief period each season when the 



8— HB 



