208 



THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



Third Alkali soils suitable for general crops. 



Fourth Alkali soils adapted only to certain special 

 classes of plants. 



The sodas are the most dangerous of the alkalis, 

 both the carbonate, or "sal soda," which is the cause of 

 "black alkali land," and the sulphate, or "Glauber salts," 

 which is the deposit on most of the "white alkali lands," 

 because they are so very easily soluble in water, whereas 

 the sulphate of lime, or "gypsum," and all the other sul- 

 phates, and the phosphates, are very much less soluble 

 in water. The consequence is, the soda alkalis are al- 

 ways shifting their location, always following the water, 

 because the latter takes them up greedily whenever they 

 are brought in contact, whether on the surface or in the 

 subsoil, or under the influence of seepage which carries 

 the alkalis from a higher to a lower level. The tendency 

 of water when in motion, or flowing, is first downward, 

 it leaches, or percolates through the soil, but after it has 

 become stationary, that is, when it does not find an out- 

 let through drainage, either natural or artificial, it begins 

 an upward movement toward the surface through capil- 

 lary action, and carries with it the alkalis it contains in 

 solution, evaporates and leaves the salts on the surface. 

 It is not difficult to understand how the alkalis accumu- 

 late in the soil, the difficulty begins when the attempt 

 is made to remove them and fit the soil for plant life. 



As the amount of alkali deposited in the soil in- 

 creases, the number of species or varieties of plants de- 

 creases. Where soils are charged with an excess of al- 

 kalis by fortuitous or artificial means, the reader will 

 understand that the excess has been added to the natural 

 supply by the flooding of rains, or by irrigation. The 

 alkali has not been washed out of the soil by the water, 

 it has been carried into it by water charged with the 

 soluble salts, directly, or by seepage from irrigating 

 ditches. In either case, deep cultivation, surface, or 

 sub-drainage, will tend to restore the soil to its normal 

 condition. Moreover, it is not difficult to wash out of 

 the soil the elements necessary to plant life through the 

 application of water, and, inasmuch as the alkalis are 

 more soluble than any of the plant foods, it should be 

 less difficult to eliminate the former by the same process 

 that carried them into the soil, intelligently applied. 



One per cent of alkali salts in an average soil one 

 foot deep equals 40,946 pounds dry, and 55,146 pounds 

 wet, too great a quantity for the successful growth of 

 cereals, although the soil may be very rich in all the 

 other plant foods, which is generally the case in all 

 alkali soils, and this percentage will prevent the growth 

 of trees, bushes, vines and root crops in general. Some- 

 times the alkali is near the surface, in the first two 

 inches of it! indeed, the tendency of the alkalis is toward 

 the surface, in this case the one per cent of alkali would 

 mean a weight of the salts in a foot deep acre of only 

 about 6,824 pounds dry, or 9,191 pounds wet, a quantity 

 not in excess if distributed uniformly through the soil. 

 But lying at the immediate surface, the cereal grains 

 cannot germinate, or if they do the young and tender 

 plants perish from thirst, literally, the alkalis absorbing 

 all the water around them, although there may be plenty 

 of untainted water in the subsoil, in which case deep 

 plowing and turning the soil over will furnish a top 

 soil in which the seeds may germinate and reach a 

 growth able to resist the alkali turned under. In fact, 

 the roots of the plant will reach beyond the alkali, for 

 the latter will then have again sought the surface, where 

 it can do no harm. 



Alfalfa, for instance, will grow in a moderately 

 alkaline soil, because the long tap roots penetrate to the 

 subsoil depths, where there is less alkali. Moreover, the 

 thick growth and luxuriant foliage shade the ground and 

 prevent evaporation, which is the handmaid of alkali de- 

 posits. 



All soils showing less than 'one-fifth of one per 

 cent of alkali salts, that is, less than 9,000 pounds to the 

 foot acre dry, or 12,000 pounds wet, may be considered 

 safe for all kinds of crops, and there will never be any 

 danger from excess of alkalis, so long as good water is 

 used and the land well drained and cultivated. When the 

 alkali goes beyond one-fifth to two-fifths per cent, general 

 crops fail, as a rule, and spots begin to show when culti- 

 vated. And when the alkali reaches four-tenths and six- 



tenths of one per cent, while general crops will not grow, 

 sweet clover and the common run of fleshy, scented and 

 sugary plants will grow and produce large crops, but must 

 be harvested early in the case of forage plants, as has al- 

 ready been said, else they will become bitter and uneatable. 

 There are, as has been said, about 197 species of 

 plants which possess a great affinity for alkali and will 

 luxuriate in masses of it where all other vegetation fails 

 to gain a foothold. Thus, greasewood, or creosote bush, 

 will flourish in a soil containing 194,760 pounds of alkali 

 salts per acre one foot deep, which is more than four per 

 cent of alkali. Scrub salt bush will grow in soil contain- 

 ing 78,240 pounds per acre, equal to about one and one- 

 half per cent. Samphire luxuriates in soil containing 306,- 

 000 pounds of alkali per acre, or about six per cent. Wheat, 

 however, will not grow where the soil contains a total of 

 20,520 pounds of the sulphates, carbonates, chlorides and 

 nitrates of soda and potash per acre one foot deep, which 

 is less than one-half of one per cent of the weight of the 

 soil. 



Attempts at Reclamation. 



It is impossible to establish any rule or set of rules 

 for the adaptation of alkali lands to profitable crops. 

 The natural growth of numerous varieties and species of 

 plants on strong alkalis is of very little moment to the 

 farmer, his main inquiry being: "How shall I get rid of 

 the excess of alkali? The whole object of cultivating the 

 soil is to compel it to produce something useful as well as 

 profitable, otherwise it is labor lost to put a plow in the 

 ground. But in the arid and semi-arid lands the soil may 

 be exceedingly fertile for general crops, and after cultiva- 

 tion and irrigation may become so impregnated with alkali 

 as to lose that fertility in spite of the quantities of essen- 

 tial plant food still in the soil. 



Where this calamity overtakes the farmer he can not 

 very well wander about and take up a new location on 

 fresh land and again go through the same experience. He 

 must remain rooted to the soil, so to speak, and use all 

 the information he can gather to restore his land to its 

 normal condition, or so much of it as has gone wrong. It 

 is a well-known saying: "All signs fail in dry weather," 

 and there are several others equally as apt. Some say: 

 "It is useless to pray for rain with the wind from the 

 wrong quarter," or, "It is a dry moon, and the borns up 

 won't let the water out." In the case of alkali soils there 

 are no apt sayings, but there aught to be one, and a very 

 good one seems to be: "Alkali laughs at the established 

 methods of cultivating the soil." 



When crops begin to look "sick," and black or white 

 patches appear here and there, the reason is not far to 

 seek: alkali is at work. The subsoil may be alkaline; 

 there may be a stratum of hard pan which prevents the 

 water with its solution of alkalis from leaching down 

 through beyond the reach of the roots; the irrigation water 

 may contain a large percentage of alkali in solution, and, 

 coming to the surface, carry its alkali along with it; there 

 may be an irrigation ditch above and beyond, or a stream, 

 or reservoir, from which the water seeps and comes up 

 wherever it can find an outlet. In all these cases, and there 

 are many others, except where the soil is naturally strong- 

 ly alkaline, he looks for the cause, and he finds it in fortu- 

 itous or accidental additions of alkali. Excess of alkali 

 has been carried into the soil, and he first stops any fur- 

 ther arrivals. The beginning of a remedy is the same in 

 the case of a thousand or more acres as in the case of but 

 one, there is merely a difference in extent of operations. 

 Then the alkali having got into the soil, he quite naturally 

 thinks that it may be got out in the same way it got in. 

 This is true as to methods. It drains or seeps in; let it 

 drain and seep out. It came to the surface with the water 

 through capillary action, therefore let that capillary action 

 be stopped or impeded. The water from the subsoil evapor- 

 ating at the surface left the alkalis behind to interfere with 

 plant life, hence, if that evaporation be prevented or reduced, 

 there will be no more, or, at least, less surface deposits. 



Without stopping to consider drainage, which requires 

 a chapter of its own, there are two conditions or processes 

 which are keys that nearly fit the situation: cultivation and 

 rotation of crops. 



Cultivation serves a double purpose; that of breaking 

 (Continuel on page 220.) 



