ALKALI 125 



Finally, it remains to be pointed out that the use of exces- 

 sive amounts of water on alkali tracts is quite as unfortunate in 

 its effects as the use of too little. If water be added to an un- 

 drained soil or in excess of the capacity of the drains to remove 

 it, incalculable harm may be done by enormously increasing 

 in the surface soil the amount of salts brought up from the lower 

 layers as the capillary stream rises to the surface in consequence 

 of evaporation there. Should the wetting of the soil proceed so 

 far as to establish good capillary connection with the permanent 

 ground water, the harm may be sufficient to offset in a few weeks 

 or months expensive reclamation efforts of years. The harm to 

 the tract where the water is added may be far less than the harm 

 done to other areas. A large proportion of existing alkali deposits 

 or "spots" results from the evaporation of seepage waters coming 

 sometimes from considerable distances. The overwetting of a soil 

 means the production of seepage waters which are to appear at 

 the surface somewhere else, generally at a lower level, and fre- 

 quently means the more or less complete ruin of the soils of the 

 lower level. The experience of India, Africa and our own arid 

 states in the increase of alkali spots following the introduction of 

 irrigation, added to our present theoretical knowledge, should 

 make the planning of an irrigation project without adequate drain- 

 age provisions, a stupidity, and its accomplishment a public crime. 

 Quite as important is the development of a public opinion that the 

 individual cultivator who deliberately or carelessly uses excessive 

 amounts of water on his tract is a serious enemy to the body 

 politic, and should be treated as such. 



