482 kellerman: effect of boron on vegetation 



face, of dried mud, sometimes absolutely bare, sometimes covered with 

 saline deposits. It had been known for years that these deposits were 

 both what is there universally called 'alkali' (carbonate of soda) and 

 salt. But it was not until 1871 that much attention was drawn to the 

 fact that several of them contained also deposits of borates, though 

 published mention had been made some time earlier that these existed 

 there. 



"The number of these 'marshes,' which are marked by borate de- 

 posits, it is impossible to state, as so large an extent of that arid region 

 remains as yet very imperfectly known." 



The earliest records pointing to a rather wide distribution of 

 compounds of boron on the Pacific Coast are shown in the follow- 

 ing quotation from the Proceedings of the California Academy 



of Sciences, contribution by J. A. Veatch, January 17, 1859: 



"The existence of boracic acid in the sea-water of our coast was 

 brought to my notice in July, 1857, I had, in the month of January 

 of the previous year, discovered borate of soda and other borates in 

 solution in the water of a mineral spring in Tehama county, near the 

 upper end of the Sacramento Valley. Prosecuting the research, I 

 found traces of boracic acid — in the form of borates — in nearly all 

 the mineral springs with which the State of California abounds. This 

 was especially the case in the Coast mountains 



" This led to an examination of the sea-water, and 



a detection of an appreciable quantity of boracic acid therein. It was 

 at Santa Barbara, where I first detected it, and subsequently at var- 

 ious points, from San Diego to the Straits of Fuca. It seems to be in 

 the form of borate of soda, and perhaps of lime. The quantity dimin- 

 ishes toward the North. It is barely perceptible in specimens of water 

 brought from beyond Oregon, and seems to reach its maximum near 

 San Diego. 



"This peculiarity seems to extend no great distance seaward. Water 

 taken thirty or forty miles west of San Francisco gave no trace of acid." 



It is perhaps a question whether the desolate character of some 

 of the western and southwestern deserts can be directly corre- 

 lated with the occurrence of borax in quantity within these areas. 

 Apparently no such correlation has been suggested, either by 

 ecologists or by engineers or agriculturists interested in reclama- 

 tion and irrigation problems in these regions. The Smoke Creek 

 Desert, the Carson Desert, Death Valley, and the Mojave Desert 

 are remarkable for their barrenness ; and in view of the occurrence 

 of borax in these regions, it would seem to be a fair question as 

 to whether the contamination of borax in the soil might not be 

 responsible to as great a degree as the low rainfall, for the absence 



