218 CROPS FOR ALKALI LAND 



Fiber crops are not of great importance in most alkali 

 sections of the United States at present. There are, 

 therefore, few data for these crops. 



Flax (Linium usilatissimum) is reported by Kearney (17) 

 as having produced a good crop where the surface foot of 

 soil contained 4000 parts per million of salts. "The pres- 

 ence of an excessive quantity of salts in the soil below the 

 first foot apparently had no injurious effect." 



Cotton is being grown in parts of the Southwest where 

 considerable alkali is found. It has been produced ex- 

 tensively under alkaline conditions in Egypt where it was 

 found to be rather resistant to alkali. The quality of 

 the cotton is impaired and the production is considerably 

 reduced where the quantity of alkali is great. For the 

 short-staple varieties where quality is not so important 

 the soil may contain 4000 to 6000 parts per million without 

 serious injury, according to Kearney (17). As with the 

 vegetables, cotton is injured in quality more by sodium 

 chloride than the other salts. Like sugar-beets, it is a 

 crop which requires considerable cultivation and it shades 

 the land during its maturity so that the cultural methods 

 tend to keep the alkali from concentrating at the surface. 



Trees and shrubs have been studied as to alkali resist- 

 ance in the United States very little except in California. 

 It is so difficult to determine whether the death of trees 

 and shrubs is due to alkali or to other unfavorable condi- 

 tions that data of practical value are almost unobtainable. 

 A rising water-table is one of the common conditions ac- 

 companying alkali, and as the roots of trees and shrubs 

 are in undrained soil which might kill the trees were no 

 alkali present at all, to what extent the injury can be as- 

 suredly due to alkali is a difficult question. Where the 

 alkali is not evenly distributed the feeding zone of the 



