190 CALIFORNIA FRUITS I HOW TO GROW THEM 



tion, which would otherwise not have been called for in many years. The annual 

 cost of such fertilization would soon exceed the first cost of drainage. 



3. Drainage does away definitely with the alkali evil. When drainage is 

 established the land can easily be so handled as either to remove all the alkali, 

 or to leave in the soil so much of it as n:ay be rationally considered beneficial, on 

 account of its usual content of valuable and highly available plant food. To 

 prevent the waste of much of this soluble plant food, the use of gypsum is also 

 valuable ; but subsequent swamping of the land would cause a return of the black 

 alkali unless drainage were provided for. 



In view of the facts that water-logged lands are still being sold 

 to the unwary for fruit planting ; that sometimes lands are offered with 

 the attractive promise of an irrigation supply when they actually 

 need a drainage system ; that on such lands every year of large rainfall 

 brings areas of trees into distress and inflicts considerable losses, these 

 declarations of Professor Hilgard should be most carefully kept in 

 mind. 



