DIVISION OF SOILS. 119 



The depth to standing water is great, and the difficulties of obtain- 

 ing water enough to keep the crops alive during the past dry years 

 have been the cause of much expense. 



The principal crops are grain, citrus fruits, a small acreage of stone 

 fruits, and grapes. The valley at one time was largely planted to 

 grapes, but the California vine disease caused the loss of nearly all 

 the vineyards. 



The most important problem which was encountered was the ques- 

 tion of fertilizing the soils. California has no fertilizer-control law. 

 Numerous brands of fertilizers are manufactured, each with a special 

 object in view, and all are sold at high prices and with no guaranty 

 but the manufacturers' analyses. The farmers are using large quan- 

 tities of these fertilizers, in many cases unnecessarily and in most 

 cases without discretion, but in the hopes of supplying the require- 

 ments of the plant and of increasing the yield of fruit. There is 

 great necessity for information on these points, and this information 

 can only be gained through extensive plot experiments. The soil 

 maps ^vill show the best places to carry on this experimental work. 

 Investigations in this line by some one competent to undertake such 

 studies should be started at once, and the excessive application of 

 fertilizers should be stopped unless the necessity of such large 

 applications is proved by experiment. 



The Jensen party. — On April 15 a soil survey was started in the 

 Yakima Valley, Washington. The soils were found to be very uni- 

 form, the predominating type being a fine sandy loam. They are 

 derived from sediments deposited in the old John Day Lake, a large 

 body of water which covered an extensive area in Washington, Idaho, 

 and Oregon in post-Tertiary times, and to this fact is due their uni- 

 formity. Only where stream action has disturbed and reworked the 

 sediments, or where wind has accumulated the sand, is the almost 

 perfect uniformity broken. 



Frequent mention has been made by agricultural investigators of 

 the alkali of the soils in the Yakima Valley. The area of alkali land 

 which was found by our parties is very small when compared with the 

 area which has been irrigated, but the land which is damaged is near 

 Yakima and is the most valuable land in the valley, owing to its prox- 

 imity to town and the ease with which it can be irrigated. Under the 

 Sunnyside Canal, below North Yakima, practically no land has been 

 damaged yet, but there is alkali in the subsoil which may rise to the 

 surface in low places. Excessive amounts of water for irrigation are 

 constantly being used, and the subsoil is rapidlj^ filling with seepage 

 water. If this rise of subsoil water goes on much longer land will 

 suffer. Only a small percentage of the available land is irrigated at 

 present, and it is hoped that the dangers of overirrigation may be 

 shown so clearly that land which is now threatened will be saved. 



The Lapham party. — About 216 square miles were surveyed around 

 Hanford, Cal. The most imiDortant problems encountered in this 

 section are those of seex)age water and alkali. All of the land is low, 

 most of it being in the slough country along the axis of the San Joa- 

 quin Valley. The drainage is into Tulare Lake and into the San Joa- 

 quin River, by way of the sloughs which connect the Kings and San 

 Joaquin rivers. During the winter and spring months the sloughs 

 and streams fill with water and soak the subsoil so that standing 

 water is found at less than 6 feet from the surface of the ground. 

 Everything possible is done to assist this filling of the soil with water, 



