591 



This sample is thus seen to oousist almost entirely of the sulphates of sofla and 

 potash, chiefly the former. There is not a sufficient amount of carbonate of soda to 

 render the salts injurious to the soil, under proper conditions of subsoil and tillage. 

 The percentage of potash is so large that the salt might be utilized as a fertilizer 

 upon lands deficient in that element of jjlant food. The presence of phosphates also 

 adds to the value of the salts as a direct fertilizer. 



[Alkali crust from San Beriuirdino County.] 



The alkali amounts to it..")i)3 per cent of the crust, and consists of — ' 



Organic matter and water 4. 3.58 



Soluble in water 93. 928 



Insoluble in water 1. 666 



Silica 0.048 



100. 000 

 The solnble portion of iliv alkali roiisi-^fs of — 



Sulphate of potash 4. 988 



Sulphate of soda (Glauber's salt) 62. 733 



Sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salt) 0. 561 



Carbonate of soda (sal soda) 14. 886 



Chloride of sodi uni (common salt) 10. 770 



93. 928 

 The hisoluhle juirtioii of the alkali consints of — 



Sulphate of lime (gypsum) 0. 145 



Carbonate of lime 0. 465 



Carbonate of magnesia 0. 649 



Peroxide of iron (as carbonate of irou) 0. 407 



Total 1. 666 



The amounts of soluble suljihates and of common salt in the above crust are 

 extremely large, and of course destructive to vegetation, but being easily soluble in 

 water they can be readily removed by proper drainage. But the presence of so 

 large an amount of carbonate of soda (nearly 15 per ceut of the salt, or 1.4 parts 

 per hundred of the soil) makes the matter a far more serious one, especially when 

 it is remembered that a percentage of less than one tenth of one per cent is suffi- 

 cient to injure vegetation, by rendering the soil caustic and corrosi\e, and by dis- 

 solving out the humus. The only antidote would be a large application of gypsum 

 and the thorough drainage of the land. 



Investigation of California oranges and lemons, G. E. 

 Colby, Ph. B., and H. L. Dyer (pp. 106-115).— A reprint of Bulletin 

 No. 93 of the station (see Experiment Station Kecord, vol. in, p. 78). 



Apricots (p. 115). — Analysis of 1 sample. 



Sugar beets (pp. 115-123). — Analyses of 20 samples of sugar beets 

 raised in dift'erent sections of the State, and in three instances of the 

 soil on which the beets were grown. Beets with as high as 16.8 per 

 Cent of cane sugar and 87.1 per cent purity were raised. 



Comparative tannin assays of canaigre roots grown in 

 California, C. S.Bonner (pp. 123-126).— ''The canaigre is the root of 

 a species of dock {Bumex hymenosepaJum) which grows wild in Texas, 

 Arizona^ New Mexico, southern Califorma, and parts of Mexico. It has 



