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the} T are made. The land m&y produce a crop for a year, or even two 

 years, and then, having become thoroughly saturated, the alkali will 

 rise and kill the crops. For the worst lands the best thing to do will 

 be to immediately abandon them. 



Much can be done to benefit, at least temporarily, the alkali conditions 

 of the delta by careful and intelligent methods of cultivation and irri- 

 gation. On the heavier soils as quickly as possible enough organic 

 matter should be plowed under to ameliorate in a degree the impervi- 

 ous clay properties and allow a more rapid percolation of the water. 

 Water should in all cases be applied to the surface. Only on the most 

 sandy soils should furrow irrigation be practiced at all. for soon the 

 furrows would be as white as the ditch banks already are throughout 

 the district. The alkali is transported by the water; so if the water 

 can be applied to the surface and be kept going down all the time, and 

 the subsoil offers good drainage, then alkali lands can be reclaimed 

 simply by copious surface flooding; but if, on the other hand, the soil 

 be heavy and compact, not conducive to rapid percolation, then the 

 tendency will be to fill up the soil with water- the alkali going down 

 for a while and then again coming to the surface at the rise of the 

 water table. This action is especially harmful if the subsoil contains 

 a greater percentage of alkali than the surface. 



So the permanent reclamation of alkali lands depends wholly upon 

 the drainage, natural or artificial. If the natural drainage is not 

 good, then artificial drains must be introduced. For the heavier soils 

 of the delta artificial drains would have to be so close together that 

 the expense would be too great to be practicable, at least for the 

 present, so the natural drainage alone will have to be depended upon. 

 Standing water at Colexico is less than 50 feet below the surface, 

 while at Imperial it is less than 30, and at this point moisture comes 

 to within 5 feet of the surface. Nearly all this subsurface water is 

 salty, so if the water from the surface reaches this and raises it before 

 it drains several miles laterally, then the conditions will be aggravated 

 rather than bettered. If the whole country is irrigated at the .same 

 time sufficiently to wash the alkali down below the reach of plant 

 roots, then the subsoil of the whole country will be filled and lateral 

 drainage be very slow, so the reclamation of the lands already budly 

 alkaline seems almost a hopeless task. 



No doubt the best thing to do is to raise crops like the sugar beet. 

 sorghum, and date palm (if the climate will permit), that are suited to 

 such alkaline conditions, and abandon as worthless that which contains 

 too much alkali to grow those crops. There is not rain enough to 

 grow salt bushes without irrigation, but with irrigation they would do 

 well, and serve as profitable food for cattle, sheep, or goaty. 



