UTILIZATION AND RECLAMATION OF ALKALI LANDS. 



479 



pected ; and the figures concerning" the whole group of these 

 rosaceous fruits admonish us that it is unsafe to predict, with- 

 out trial, what may he the outcome of culture tests. Thus 

 plum trees, apparently in good condition, sometimes suddenly 

 begin to fail when starting to bear ; the fruit appears normal 

 on the outside for a time, but the pit fails to form, being at 

 times flattened out like a piece of pasteboard ; and the fruit 

 does not mature. Yet there is no observable injury to the base 

 of the trunk, or to the roots. On the other hand, pears do well 

 even when the outside bark around the root-crown is black- 

 ened by the action of the alkali salts. But 38.000 pounds, even 

 of sulfate, proves too much for the pear. 



The quince appears to be materially more resistant than the 

 apple or pear. It probably ranges alongside of the fig, the soil- 

 adaptations of which it shares in other respects also. 



The English i^alnnt resents even a slight taint of black 

 alkali; but is fairly tolerant of " white" salts, as is shown in 

 the peculiarly suitable light loam soils on the lower Santa Clara 

 river, in Ventura county, as well as in Orange county. Cali- 

 fornia. 



Close figures for the limits of alkali tolerance in the case of 

 deciduous orchard trees cannot easily be given or determined, 

 owing to the difficulties inherent in the differences of root pene- 

 tration in the several soils and localities; as well as the fact 

 already alluded to, that in close-textured soils the tolerance is 

 in general decidedly less than in sandy lands. 1 lence the 

 figures in the table must be taken as more nearlv represent- 

 ing relative tolerances, rather than absolute data to be ap- 

 plied in every case. As regards the stone fruits, it should 

 be remembered that the Myrobalan root, being at home in 

 Asia Minor, where alkali abounds, should when practicable be 

 used wherever alkali conditions exist, in preference to all but 

 the almond, which seems to resist well, even on its own root, 

 but has not as wide a range of adaptations as a grafting stock- 

 as the myrolnlan. While most of the other stone fruits at the 

 Tulare substation were on myrabalan roots, the stock of those 

 in outside orchards was mostly in doubt. It is also to be kept 

 in mind that different varieties of the same fruit c. g.. pears 

 and apples show a not inconsiderable variation in their resist- 

 ance. 



