FINE, DEEP LOAMS 



31 



medium loams, from 10 to 15 per cent; clay loams, from 15 to 20 

 per cent ; clay soils, from 20 to 50 per cent of clay. 



The coarse materials are sand grains of various sizes or rock 

 particles in various degrees of disintegration. The fine materials 

 are clay and rock powder, commonly designated as fine silt. Loam 

 soils may result from deposits by flowing water or many consist 

 of debris but little removed from local rock disintegration. They 

 include a wide variety of materials but agree in the possession of 

 striking adaptability to fruit culture. Some of the leading instances 

 of such soils may be cited. 



Loams of the Valley Plains. On the east side of the Sacra- 

 mento Valley low ridges and swales at right angles to the river's 

 course come in from the foot-hills, forming a gently undulating 

 plain with a fall of from fifteen to twenty feet per mile, sometimes 

 right up to the river channels. Nearly all the soils of the east side 

 have a reddish tinge, showing the admixture of the red foot-hill 

 soil and demonstrating, by the way, that all these lands are well 

 drained. In cuts ten to twelve feet deep, made by the sloughs, the 

 reddish plains loam is seen to reach from six to ten feet depth, 

 being then underlaid by gravelly substrata. The width of this 

 class of profusely fertile valley land, east and west, varies consid- 

 erably, according to the meanderings of the rivers. Away from the 

 water courses, the higher lands of the valleys are largely red or 

 yellow loams, sometimes clayey and difficult of cultivation unless 

 taken just in the right condition, sometimes gravelly and apt to 

 dry out unless the natural water supply is supplemented by irriga- 

 tion, but mostly a free-working, fairly retentive, light Ibam, very 

 satisfactory for some kinds of fruit. 



The soils of the San Joaquin Valley have, as a rule, a much 

 greater admixture of sand than those of the* Sacramento Valley; 

 there is also a more distinct subdivision of the valley lands into 

 upland or "bench" lands, and lowland or alluvial lands proper. 



Upon the upland or plains soils, especially of Fresno and Tulare 

 counties, wonderful progress in fruit-growing by irrigation has 

 been made during the last few years. Though its summer aspect 

 is most forbidding and almost desert-like in lack of vegetation, 

 the application of water has shown exceptional quickness of 

 growth, early bearing, and lavish productiveness of tree and vine. 

 These plains loams vary in appearance, and are from this fact 

 locally named, "reddish loam," "white ash," and "sand hill." All 

 are distinctly calcareous. Even in the case of the latter, which is 

 the lightest and made of almost 90 per cent of inert sand, it is so 

 deep and has its plant food in such highly available condition that 

 it is prodtfcing very large crops of fruits where there is no rise of 

 the bottom water to prevent root penetration. In the foot-hills 

 of the Sierra Nevada there are some loose loams of light color 



