470 SOILS. 



Modiola procumbens, now generally known as modiola simply, 

 deserves attention, -as it makes acceptable pasture where alfalfa 

 fails to make a stand on account of alkali. It is a trailing plant 

 with medium-sized, roundish foliage, and roots freely at the 

 joints where they touch the ground. Unlike the saltbushes it 

 is therefore a formidable weed where it is not wanted; but as 

 according to California experience it resists as much as 52,000 

 pounds of salts per acre, even when 41,000 of these is common 

 salt, it is likely to be useful in many cases, particularly as an 

 admixture to a saltbush diet for stock, as it does not absorb 

 as much salt as the latter. It seems best adapted to pasturage. 



As the table shows that, once grown to the age of a few 

 years, alfalfa will resist a percentage of alkali next to the salt- 

 bush, it will generally be worth while, in lands otherwise 

 adapted to alfalfa, to prepare the land by leaching-down (see 

 above) so as to secure a stand of the more valuable crop. 



Native Grasses. 1 Of all known plants that stock will eat 

 somewhat freely, the tussock grass (Sporobolus airoidcs, of 

 which a figure is given farther on), a native of the southern 

 arid region, endures the largest amounts of alkali ; having been 

 found growing well on land containing the enormous amount 

 of nearly half a million pounds of salts per acre, although it 

 will thrive with only 49,000 pounds in the soil. What it will 

 do under cultivation has never been fairly tested; but its bare 

 tussocks, killed by the excessive browsing of stock, testify to 

 its acceptableness as forage. It does not seem to absorb ex- 

 cessive amounts of salts. 



Aside from the alkali grass proper (Distichlis), mentioned 

 above, the so-called rye grass of the Northwest (Elymus con- 

 densatus) is probably, next to the tussock grass, the most re- 

 sistant species among the wild grasses. Its southern form, 

 with several others not positively identified, occupies largely 

 the milder alkali lands of southern California. This grass, 

 though rather coarse, is regularly cut for hay in the low 

 grounds of Oregon and Washington. 



1 It should be understood that the plants so referred to are exclusively the trut 

 grasses, recognized as such by every child, and not forage plants generally; which 

 are sometimes so designated ; not only by farmers, but by some authors who fail 

 to appreciate the practical importance of the distinction, which makes it necessary 

 that farmers should be taught to understand it. 



