474 



SOILS. 



relationship not yet tested, such as the true artichoke, salsify, 

 etc. Chicory, belonging to the same family, yielded roots at 

 the rate of twelve tons per acre, on land of the Chino tract 

 containing about 8,000 pounds of salts per acre. 



Root Crops. It seems to be generally true that root crops 

 suffer in quality, however satisfactory may be the quantity, 

 harvested on lands rich in salts, and especially in chlorids 

 (common salt). It was noted at the Tulare substation (Cali- 

 fornia) that the tubers of the artichoke were inclined to be 

 " squashy " in the stronger alkali land, and failed to keep well; 

 the same was true of potatoes, which were very watery; and 

 also of turnips and carrots. It is a fact well known in Europe, 

 that potatoes manured with kainit (chlorids of potassium and 

 sodium) are unfit for the manufacture of starch, and are gen- 

 erally of inferior quality. But this is found not to be the case 

 when, instead of the chlorids. the sulfate is used; hence the ad- 

 vice, often repeated by the California station, that farmers de- 

 siring to use potash fertilizers should call for the " high-grade 

 sulfate " instead of the cheaper kainit, which adds to the in- 

 jurious salts already so cmm<>nly present in lowland soils of 

 the arid region. Such root crops are, however, available for 

 stock feed. 



The common beet (including the mangel-wurzel) is known 

 to succeed well on saline seashore lands, and it maintains its 

 reputation on alkali lands also. Being especially tolerant of 

 common salt, it may be gn.\\n where other crops fail on this 

 account; but the roots so grown are strongly charged with 

 common salt, and have, as is well known, been used for the 

 purpose of removing excess of the same from seacoast-marsh 

 lands. Such roots are wholly unfit f"r sugar-making. 



It is quite otherwise with (ikmber's salt (sodium sulfate); 

 and as this is very commonly predominant in alkali lands, 

 either before or after the gypsum treatment, this fact is of 

 great importance, for it frequently permits of the successful 

 growing of the sugar beet; a^ lias been abundantly proved at 

 the Chino ranch, where land containing as much as 60.000 

 pounds of salts, mostly this compound, has yielded roots of 

 very high grade, both as to sugar percentage and purity. But 

 the analyses of the Oxnard soil show that more than 10,000 



