EDITORIAL. 3 



arid soils but its higlior percentage in nitrogen. He first called 

 attention to the relation of native vegetation to the character of the 

 soil, and enii^hasized this relation as a means of judging of the 

 qualities and adaptation of soils. He laid much stress on this as a 

 supplement to i)hysical-cliemical analysis. His argument is briefly 

 stated as • follows : "• The native vegetation represents, within the 

 climatic limits of the regional flora, the results of a secnlar process 

 of adaptation of plants to climates and soils, by natural selection and 

 the survival of the fittest. The natural floras and sjdvas are thus the 

 expression of secidar, or rather millennial experience, which if rightly 

 interpreted must convey to the cultivator of the soil the same informa- 

 tion that otherwise he must acquire by long and costly personal 

 experience."' 



Dr. Plilgard's investigations on' the alkali soils of the Pacific Slope 

 were the first systematic studies in that line, and aided in clearing 

 up the problems of reclamation of similar lands in Hungary, Africa, 

 India, and Australia. He was a pioneer in that field, and has prob- 

 abl}' done more than any other one man to determine the nature of 

 alkali, its effect on soils and plants, and the means of overcoming it. 

 IIoAv progressive he was in his ideas is shown by a summary of his 

 findings, published in 1886, on Alkali Lands, Irrigation and Drain- 

 age, and Their Mutual Relations. He there prescribed three methods 

 for the reclamation of alkali lands, namely: (1) Frequent and deep 

 tillage to maintain a deep soil mulch, both for preventing evaporation 

 and keeping down the alkali ; (2) leaching out by flooding and under- 

 draining, and (3) the use of chemical antidotes, notabh^ gypsum in 

 the case of black alkali. 



He also studied the resistance of various crops to alkali, both as a 

 means of cultivating such lands and of removing the alkali. For 

 several years he maintained an experiment station at Tulare for the 

 study of alkali problems on a practical scale. 



Dr. Hilgard was in charge of the agricultural division of the 

 Northern Transcontinental Survey, 1881-1883, and in 1882 w^as made 

 chairman of a commission appointed by the U. S. Commissioner of 

 Agriculture on the agriculture of the arid regions. In the latter 

 capacity he edited a report on the Climatic and Agricultural Features 

 and the Agricultural Practice and Needs of the Arid Ivegions of the 

 Pacific Slope. His treatise on The Relations of Soil to Climate, first 

 published by this Department in 1892, Avas republished in enlarged 

 and revised form in both France and German}'. In connection with 

 the Tenth Census he prepared the report on cotton production, which 

 contained an extensive stucl}^ and discussion of the soils of the cotton- 

 growing States. This work was at the time the most comprehensive 

 soil study Avhich had been made for a stated agricultural area, and 

 has remained one of the most important sources of information. The 



