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I94 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



129 



soil, which invariably develops salt spots 

 that spread from year to year. 



Upon the completion of the reclama- 

 tion, cotton, corn, clover, alfalfa, sugar 

 cane, and all crops grown in the district 

 can be grown without tear of a rise of 

 alkali, but the partially reclaimed land 

 is fit only for alkali-resistant crops, or 

 crops which will grow in standing water. 



SUMMARY OF RECLAMATION METHODS. 



There are three methods of alkali- 

 land reclamation in use in Egypt. Each 

 of these methods is successful under the 

 conditions appropriate for its use, and 

 all are worthy of being tried in America. 



1. Floodi>ig with open drains, as has 

 been described. 



2. Colmatagc or Warping. This meth- 

 od of reclamation consists simply in flood- 

 ing land with muddy water long enough 

 to allow the mud to settle, after which 

 the clear water is drawn off and more 

 muddy water run on. Very little atten- 

 tion is paid to drainage, except in so far 

 as surface drains are dug to carry away 

 the clear water. The popular impres- 

 sion prevails that by this method the 

 alkali or salt is covered up with sufficient 

 good soil to permit plant roots to thrive. 

 As a matter of fact, the efficiency of the 

 method depends much more on the fact 

 that the alkali is washed down into and 

 mixed with the sub-soil, so that its con- 

 centration at the surface is diminished. 

 The total amount of alkali in the soil is 

 very slightly reduced, and when condi- 

 tions again become favorable for the rise 

 of the alkali it returns to the surface 

 and proves as troublesome as before. 



3. Flooding with Tile Drains. This 

 method has only been tried experiment- 

 ally in Egypt, but promises to be the 

 most rapid and effective way of reclaim- 

 ing the land. Tile drains are placed 

 30 inches deep and 35 feet apart, at a 

 cost of $30 per acre. 



In the application of these methods 

 of reclamation to American conditions 

 there are a number of factors which 

 enter into the problem and make neces- 

 sary certain changes. American farm- 

 ers have a well-grounded dislike to open 

 ditches in fields. They take up a large 

 amount of valuable land, require an 

 annual outlay in cleaning and deepen- 

 ing, necessitate the building and annual 



repair of bridges, and prevent or hamper 

 the use of machinery in agricultural 

 operations. Tile drains take up no room, 

 render no land unavailable for cropping, 

 require little or no repairs if properly 

 laid at the start, and are efficient for 

 many years. One hundred feet of open 

 ditch 7 feet wide occupies 700 square 

 feet of land. The value of this, at $100 

 per acre, would be $1.6 1. The cost of 

 digging 100 feet of open ditch of this 

 width, 3 feet deep, is at least $4. The 

 cost, in our Eastern states, of digging, 

 laying tile, filling the trenches, and pur- 

 chase of 4-inch tile for 100 feet of drain 

 is about $4, so that there is a difference 

 of $1.6 1 per 100 feet in favor of the tile. 

 If allowance is made for cost of bridges 

 and annual cleaning of open ditches, the 

 difference will be still greater. 



The soils in arid America are generally 

 light in character and do not stand well 

 in bank, so that great trouble would be 

 experienced in maintaining small open 

 ditches. 



For these reasons alkali-land reclama- 

 tion by means of open ditches is not to 

 be recommended for general use. In the 

 larger drains, where very large pipe 

 would be required, open ditches may be 

 used, but in a great many localities some 

 kind of protection will be necessary to 

 strengthen the banks and prevent their 

 caving. 



The irrigation season, except in cer- 

 tain parts of California and Arizona, is 

 shorter than in Egypt, and in order to 

 reclaim land within a reasonable length 

 of time it will be necessary to place 

 drains closer together. In this way the 

 land will be reclaimed in a shorter time, 

 because a greater quantity of water can 

 be run through the soil in a given time. 

 In an experiment on 40 acres now being 

 carried on in a loam soil near Salt Lake 

 City, Utah, the tile were placed 150 feet 

 apart. This seems to be a good average 

 distance at which to place tile. As the 

 experiment progresses more definite in- 

 formation regarding the time required 

 for reclamation can be given. 



Prof. Milton Whitney, Chief of the 

 Bureau of Soils, has lately expressed 

 himself as follows in regard to the prac- 

 ticability of soil-washing in the West : 



"The subject of alkali has been a 

 source of much anxiety to our western 



