Till: TIIl.ATMEXT OF ALKALI. 35 



the topsoil must not be too strong with alkali. It is said 

 that the olive will grow in the black alkali. 



Planting Trees in Alkali Ground. We are fre- 

 quently asked if there is any way to plant trees on alkali 

 soil so that they will live. As we have said before, alkali 

 soil packs very closely, a great deal more so than soil 

 not impregnated with this salt. If made wet it runs 

 together like soft mortar. If a hole is dug in alkali soil 

 the walls will be as smooth as it is possible to conceive 

 earth to be, showing the disposition of this soil to pack 

 too closely for young tree life, while the tree planter may 

 lose his labor, not even saving the holes he dug. Our 

 experience has been, after digging the hole for the 

 tree the usual depth and the usual way, to take a quar- 

 ter of a stick of giant powder and put it down a foot 

 deeper in the bottom of the tree hole and blow up the 

 1 sacked dirt by exploding the same ; and at the bottom 

 of the hole put a layer of pure gypsum, place the tree 

 roots on the gypsum, take clean chaff straw, dirt and 

 gypsum, about eight pounds of the latter and half dirt, 

 and half clean straw, and fill up the hole made for the 

 tree. Do not in this case use the topsoil to fill the hole, 

 as would be best to do if there was no alkali. When the 

 tree is planted, take an old fruit can, put it in the fire 

 to spring it apart, and then place it around the body of 

 the tree above the crown roots and at the surface of the 

 ground, the can to be so placed that the top may come 

 even with the ground's surface, and should be filled with 

 gypsum. The best kind of pear trees to plant in alkali 

 soil are Beurre Hardy, Winter Nelis and Trout. The 

 Bartlett does not do so well. 



