THE TREATMENT OF ALKALI. 31 



tact with alkali in sandy soil, and if it should prevail in 

 such soils it would do no special harm. The action ot 

 the weather for ages has caused it to leach out as rapidly 

 as it formed. 



The vineyards of the Hacienda de los Hornos in 

 Cohahuila, Mexico, are planted in stiff adohe soil which 

 by the alkaline efflorescence has become as white as 

 paper. The vineyard which has existed for several years 

 is marvelously vigorous and there is no appearance that 

 this condition will change. At Viesca, Cohahuila, the 

 clay soil of the public square seems as if it were covered 

 with snow. It produces, nevertheless, magnificent trees 

 and rosebushes. From this it would seem that the rela- 

 tion of alkali to soils is often misunderstood, and is con- 

 sidered more injurious than it really is to the growth of 

 vines, shrubbery and trees. 



Effects of Alkali. There are, however, many 

 tender garden and field crops that are badly injured even 

 by the white alkalies that we have seen under such 

 peculiar conditions in Mexico. While the corrosive 

 action exerted by the alkali salts upon the root crowns 

 and upper roots of plants is the most common source of 

 injury, there is another kind of damage which manifests 

 itself, mainly in the heavier class of soils thus afflicted, 

 when the soluble salts consist largely of carbonates of 

 soda and potash. This is the great difficulty or almost 

 impossibility of producing a condition of true tilth, in 

 consequence of the now well-known tendency of alkaline 

 solutions to maintain all true clay in the most impalpably . 

 divided or tamped condition, that of well-worked pot- 

 ter's clay, instead of the flocculent condition it assumes 

 in a well-tilled soil. 



Waters Carrying Alkali. There are some classes 

 of water which it is not advisable to use for purposes of 

 irrigation. Thus, it was at one time proposed to use the 

 waters of Kern and Tulare lakes in California for irri- 



