72 NATIVE VEGETATION AS AN INDICATOR 



until borings and analyses show it to be free from alkali, 

 unless plans are laid for immediate drainage. Soils, con- 

 taining as much as 10,000 parts per million (3) of salts 

 mostly sodium chloride but with the upper foot or so 

 dry and free from alkali, have been found to produce 

 excellent saltbushes. They grow equally well in the 

 presence of nearly 8000 parts per million (2) of sodium 

 sulphate. Because of the porous, dry, upper soil, and the 

 tendency to have alkali beneath, such soils are ordinarily 

 unfit for dry-farming. 



Kochia, or White Sage (Kochia bestita), is a low-lying 

 shrub with its branches close to the ground and with a 

 strong taproot which, however, seldom penetrates to a 

 greater depth than one foot. New shoots are sent up from 

 its roots. Its leaves are alternate, sessile, villous, narrow, 

 and entire. The branches as well as the leaves are fre- 

 quently covered with short woolly hairs. It is found in the 

 intermountain country from Colorado to Nevada. Land 

 upon which it occurs is usually free from injurious salts 

 in the upper foot or so, some observations showing the 

 upper foot to contain about 1200 parts per million of total 

 salts (4), but the soil beneath which its roots feed is almost 

 invariably impregnated with so much alkali that deeper 

 rooting plants, such as the sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata) 

 cannot exist. Kochia itself is not alkali resistant, but 

 where it exists to the exclusion of sagebrush and similar 

 nonresistant plants the lower depths of soil are either 

 high in alkali or underlain at shallow depths with a hardpan 

 which prevents deep penetration of roots. Either con- 

 dition makes the land undesirable for general farming be- 

 cause of the likelihood of a rise of alkali. Kochia land 

 frequently contains some black alkali and the soil is often 

 rather impervious so that reclamation is difficult. 



