WATER SOILS. 429 



from the Animas Valley, and accounts are given of experiments with 

 the " white sands" (gypsum) as a corrective of the alkali. 



"The white sands are a very remarkable deposit of practically pure gypsum in a 

 finely granular form, lying about 30 miles to the northeast of the < >rgan Mountains. 

 This gypsum, being finely divided, drifts before the wind like sand and is piled up 

 in hillocks, often 20 or 30 feet high. It covers a section of country probably20 l>y30 

 miles in extent. These hillocks of snowy whiteness are visible for miles and present 

 a \iT,v striking appearance. The fact that a large number of different plants are 

 found giowing right in this deposit is perhaps as good evidence as could be secured 

 of its noninjurious effect on plants." 



The experiments with gypsum in the Rio Grande Valley were made 

 .on twentieth-acre plats, but only negative results were obtained. The 

 alkali in this region is of the white class and is, therefore, not benefited 

 by the application of gypsum. 



Experiments with Animas Valley alkali soil were made in pots. The 

 alkali of this soil is what is known as black alkali and the application 

 of gypsum was very beneficial. The alkali spots of the Animas Valley 

 are known as chico soils because the chico plant (Sarcobatus vermicu- 

 latus) and saltbush appear to be the only kind of vegetation that will 

 grow on them. Analyses of the chico plant and the Australian salt- 

 bush are given. In the first the percentage of ash was 13.12, while in 

 the saltbush it was 27.09. In each case the ash contained large quanti- 

 ties of sodium salts, which are the principal constituents of black alkali. 



'One of the most serious dangers from alkali in the Animas Valley is the swamp- 

 ing of low-lying sections by seepage from leaky ditches. The irrigating canals for 

 the valley are taken out of the river and carried along the line of the foothills, 

 sometimes at considerable elevation above the laud. The foothills are composed of 

 loose drift material in which it is next to impossible to make canals which will not 

 leak badly. Nearly all the land of the valley, in fact, is very open and porous, being 

 sandy in character. 



"As a result of these conditions, the alkali is being washed out of the higher land 

 and carried to the lower lying land where, when the water table comes near enough 

 to the surface for the water to be raised by capillary attraction, the alkali is brought 

 to the surface and deposited there. Numbers of formerly productive fields are 

 already being ruined in this way, and in our opinion the trouble will grow worse 

 rather than better.*' 



An analysis of the Animas River water is reported, which shows that 

 the percentage of soluble salts in this water is very low, and it may 

 therefore be safely used for irrigation purposes. 



The physical effects of various salts and fertilizer ingredients 

 upon the soil as modifying the factors -which control its supply 

 of moisture, J. L. Beeson (Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc, 19 (1*97), Xo. 8, 

 })}). 620-649, Jigs. 3). — Acting upon the -suggestions of Whitney 1 and 

 Hilgard 2 , the author has attempted to determine which salts affect the 

 physical properties of soils to the greatest extent, which build up and 

 which break down soil aggregates, with a view to establishing the fac- 

 tors which control their water supply. Descriptions are given of 2 



1 Maryland Sta. Bui. 21 (E. S. R., 5, p. 162). 

 -Agr. Sei.. G (1892), pp. 321,566. 



