B. P. I.-ICO. ' S. P. I. D.-49. 



AGRICULTURAL EXPLORATIONS IN 



ALGERIA. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The principal object of the writers' visit to Algeria was to secure for 

 trial in the '' alkali " lands of the western United States seed of such 

 of the important field crops as might show indication of an unusual 

 desfree of resistance to salt in the soil. There was reason to believe 

 that in northern Africa, if anj^where in the world, useful plants would 

 be found to have developed such resistance through long cultivation in 

 saline soils under a dry, hot climate. 



Agriculture is too new in the arid part of America to make it likel}" 

 that races in which the quality of resistance to "alkali" has become 

 fixed should as yet have arisen there without direct eli'orts to breed 

 them. But in the Sahara Desert, and in adjacent regions, all the con- 

 ditions are favorable to the production of such races through natural 

 selection. There we find the greatest continuous body of desert land 

 in the world. The cultivated soils and the water used in irrigation 

 often contain an excess of soluble salts. Finally, agriculture has been 

 practiced there for thousands of years, and well-marked varieties of 

 various cultivated plants have been developed. 



As a matter of fact, it is already known to the Department of Agri- 

 culture that such salt-resistant races exist in northern Africa. Sev- 

 eral of the agricultural explorers sent out by the Department have 

 reported this to be true of Algerian wheats and ))arle3's. Mr. W. T. 

 Swino-le brouoht back with him from the oases of the Sahara seed of 

 alfalfa that was growing in soils containing a high percentage of salt. 

 It was desirable, however, to determine just how resistant this Alge- 

 rian alfalfa is and to obtain a larger quantity of the seed, in order that 

 it could be fairl}- tested in the southwestern United States. 



It is believed that this oI)ject was accomplished. The fact that 

 alfalfa in the oases withstands a greater amount of soluble salts in the 

 soil than ordinary American alfalfa was established beyond reasonalde 

 question. A suflicient quantity of seed was obtained to insure a 

 thorough trial of it in parts of our countr}- where a similar climate 



11 



