THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



305 



quantities of the earth salts in their sap in solution, the 

 carbonates, sulphates, the sodas, and potash, literally 

 taken up out of the soil. Of course, when removed a 

 certain amount of alkali is removed with them. This 

 has been the experience with the "salt meadows" in 

 Germany and Holland, and in the United States, as has 

 been already noted, and, in a small way, with the alkali 

 lands of the West where the experiment has been made. 



CAPILLARY POWER OF SOIL. 



When water is poured into the saucer or sole of a 

 flower-pot filled with earth the soil gradually sucks it up 

 and becomes moist even to the surface. This is what 

 is known as "capillary action," and exists in all porous 

 bodies to a greater or less extent. A sponge is a well- 

 known instance of this power, and if the small end of a 

 piece of hard chalk be held in water the entire mass 

 soon becomes saturated. The experiment with the 



This suspension of capillary action in winter, or 

 cold weather, furnishes a strong point in favor of winter 

 irrigation, which really takes the place of the autumn 

 and spring rains, and of the snow that slowly melts 

 and its waters carried down into the soil to the water 

 table ready to begin an upward movement when the 

 weather becomes warm and the surface soil dry. 



The dryer the soil and the hotter the atmosphere, 

 the more rapid is the rising of the water to the surface 

 by capillary attraction, and, as the water ascends, it car- 

 ries along with it the saline matters dissolved by it and, 

 reaching the surface, evaporates, leaving the salts it 

 carried behind. It is this capillary action which has in- 

 crusted our own lands with alkalis of all kinds; it is the 

 same in India, Egypt, South Africa, and elsewhere. 

 On the arid plains of Peru, and on extensive tracts in 

 South Africa, alkali deposits, several feet in thickness, 



SOME BUILDINGS IN OGDEN, UTAH. 



18. Carnegie Library. 



20. Daily Standard Building. 



22. Ogden Sugar Factory. 



19. W. H. Wright & Son Co. Dry Goods House. 

 21. Weber County Court House. 



flower-pot, however, represents the action in the soil, 

 the water from beneath that contained in the sub-soil 

 is gradually sucked up to the surface. It is one of 

 the operations of the laws of nature which maintains 

 all things in constant motion to preserve their life and 

 vitality, for, if permitted to remain at rest without 

 motion, they sicken and die, afterward putrefying as 

 happens even with water which becomes stagnant, that 

 is, ceases to be in motion. 



In climates where there is winter, or even a moder- 

 ate degree of cold weather, this capillary action ceases 

 and the tendency of the water is to "soak" downward, 

 and it is not until warm weather that capillary action 

 begins and the water commences "soaking" upward 

 toward the surface. In a warm, or hot climate, this 

 action is constant and it also takes place whenever the 

 soil is parched or dry. 



are sometimes met with, all of which are caused by the 

 capillary action of water bringing up to the surface 

 the salts in the subsoil. So it is that the enormous beds 

 of nitrate of soda in Peru and those of the carbonate of 

 soda in Colombia were created; and in our own black 

 and white alkali and sodium bad lands capillary action 

 may be blamed for their condition. It must not be for- 

 gotten that wherever there is seepage there is also cap- 

 illary action, for that power is exercised in every direc- 

 tion. It does not matter which end of the sponge or 

 piece of chalk is held to the water, both become sat- 

 urated. It may be said that capillary action is a viola- 

 tion of the law of gravity, or, rather, is a law of itself 

 acting independently. 



This tendency of water to ascend to the surface of 

 the earth is not the same in all soils. It is less rapid 

 in stiff clays and more rapid in sandy and open, porous 



