THE SOILS OF THE ROSWELL AREA. 



The soils of the Roswell area may be classed under three types : 



1 . Pecos loam, upland prairie-like soils. 



2. Roswell loams, lower lands not bottoms. 



3. Meadows or bottom lands. 



(1) The Pecos loam is a light, sandy soil found on the upper 

 benches away from the streams. It has been cultivated very little, 

 except during flood in the Hondo, and has never shown trouble from 

 alkali. 



(2) The Roswell loams cover by far the greater part of the irriga- 

 tion district of Roswell. They differ from the Pecos loam in being 

 heavier ; that is, they contain a higher percentage of fine material. 

 They are subdivided into sandy loam and loam. A bed of clay 

 underlies both soils, but that under the loam is much nearer the sur- 

 face than that under the sandy loam. This clay is very impervious 

 to water. When irrigation water is freely applied, the excess seeps 

 down until this stratum of clay is reached, when it accumulates and 

 rises, gradually filling the subsoil until the soil itself becomes too wet 

 with seepage water for crops. Evaporation takes place from the wet 

 surface, and as the soil moisture concentrates through evaporation 

 the soluble salts accumulate at or near the surface of the ground 

 until finally plants can no longer grow. Of the kind of alkali found 

 at Roswell, about one-half of 1 per cent in the top foot of soil is suf- 

 ficient to prevent alfalfa growing. Drainage is the one great need 

 of these soils. The water drawn off from the subsoil would lessen 

 the evaporation from the surface and carry out into the rivers the 

 salt which has accumulated near the surface, besides lowering the 

 level of the ground^' water. 



(3) Meadows or bottom lands occur along the North and South 

 Spring rivers and along the Hondo. The soil in all of these is 

 formed from mud, deposited by the Hondo when in flood, mixed 

 with the remains of tule swamps and other water-loving vegetation. 

 Most of the bottom lands are wet and would require drainage even 

 in a humid climate, but situated as they are, quantities of alkali are 

 accumulating in the surface, and only by thorough drainage and 

 washing away of these salts can these lands now be reclaimed. 



THE PROBLEMS OF THE ROSWELL DISTRICT. 



To the most casual observer, the flat tract of land to the southeast 

 of Roswell lacks under drainage. The water table lies at an average 

 depth of less than 5 feet below the surface. Over much of what was 

 once the best land in the district water can now be found within 3 

 feet of the surface during part of the year. Such a condition of 

 standing water is unhealthy to the plants growing on the surface 

 and, moreover, in a country where the subsoil is charged with alkali 



