SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 335 



BingJiam Series. Of this series the gravelly loam has the high- 

 est agricultural value. It is chiefly adapted to fruit, such as apples, 

 peaches, pears, cherries, plums and apricots, and in some localities to 

 raspberries and strawberries. It is also suitable for growing wheat, 

 alfalfa, and grains. 



Jordan Series. Of the Jordan series, the sand is the leading, 

 truck and fruit soil, devoted extensively to the production of tomatoes, 

 peaches, plums, etc. It is somewhat leachy in character, necessitat- 

 ing frequent irrigation, and is sometimes injured by the rise of the 

 water table when not naturally well drained. The loam is the lead- 

 ing sugar-beet producing soil of this series, being followed by the clay 

 loam in adaptation to this crop. These two soil types are adapted to 

 irrigation and are easily cultivated, but sometimes subject to injury 

 from accumulation of alkali or seepage water. The fine sand usually 

 occurs in wind-blown areas and is relatively unimportant. The clay 

 is often poorly drained and alkaline, but when well drained is adapted 

 to alfalfa and grains. 



Malade Series. The Malade series of Utah occur along the val- 

 ley troughs. The sandy loam is usually free from alkali making a 

 food soil for general farming. It is one of the best soils for sugar 

 eets. The fine sand is also suitable for general farming purposes 

 and for sugar beets when irrigated. 



NORTHWESTERN INTERMOUNTAIN REGIONS. 



The most extensive and uniform soil types of this region consist 

 of residual materials overlying and derived from extensive basaltic 

 lava plains and in some cases from granitic rocks or of ancient lacus- 

 trine sediments or extensive lake beds now more or less modified by 

 erosion or seolian agencies. Owing to erosion by streams and to move- 

 ments of the earth's crust, these soils now generally occupy more or 

 less elevated sloping or rolling plains. About the margins of the 

 lacustrine or residual deposits they are covered by sloping plains and 

 fans of colluvial wash from the adjacent mountain borders, while in 

 the vicinity of the larger streams, which have carved and terraced 

 the lacustrine beds and residual soils, occur other series of recent 

 alluvial stream sediments derived from reworked materials of the lake 

 beds or from the weathered products of the mountains. It is the soils 

 of this region that constitute a large portion of the great grain-produc- 

 ing lands of the Northwest. 



Bridger Series. The soils of the Bridger series are usually re- 

 tentive of moisture and extensively utilized for the production of dry- 

 farmed grains, consisting of wheat, oats, and barley, although irriga- 

 tion is sometimes necessary for the production of these crops. Under 

 irrigation, alfalfa, clover, timothy, and hardy fruits are also pro- 

 duced to a limited extent. 



Yakima Series. The soils of the Yakima series take high rank 

 in the production of grains and of intensively irrigated fruits and 

 other special crops. The stony loam and the sand usually lie above 

 irrigation, are of porous structure, and frequently of wind-blown 

 drifting character, and are relatively unimportant members of the 



