THE IERIGATION AGE. 



53 



A muck contains more earth than the peat and is less com- 

 pact. These soils are high in potential nitrogen, but are 

 usually exceedingly low in potash. When well drained 

 and fertilized with phosphorus and potash they are gen- 

 erally fertile soils. Many of our black soils belong to 

 this type. 



A loam is a soil consisting of a mixture of clay, sand 

 and organic matter and is the most desirable type of 

 soil for most purposes. These soils are usually well 

 balanced, as they have good power to hold moisture, are 

 well supplied with plant food, and have considerable abil- 

 ity to retain such soluble plant food as may be added to 

 them. They allow the air to circulate through them 

 more freely than clay soils, but are not so objectionably 

 open as are sandy soils. They are easily worked and have 

 comparatively little tendency to bake or crust on the 

 surface. They are well suited to most crups and respond 

 well to fertilization. In addition to loam proper, which 

 contains the ideal portions of clay silt, sand and organic 

 matter, several sub-types are recognized: (1) Heavy 

 clay loam, (2) clay loam, (3) loam, (4) sandy loam, (5) 

 light sand loam, etc. Taken in the order in which they 

 are stated they contain from first to last decreasing quan- 

 tities of clay, and increasing- quantities of sand, the heavy 

 clay loam having the most clay and the light sandy loam 



RELATION OF THE LUMBER INDUS- 

 TRY TO IRRIGATION 



By George M. Cornwall, Editor The Timberman, 

 Portland, Oregon. 



Lakes and Ponds Are Gradually Filled Up, Forming Muck and Peat Soils. 



containing the most sand. These sub-types naturally par- 

 .take of the characteristics of their components so that 

 the heavy clay loam shows in a large measure the proper- 

 ties of a clay, and the light sandy loams are only a step 

 removed from the sandy soils. The other sub-types are 

 intermediate between the two extremes. The loams as a 

 whole represent the more common types of farm soils. 



Limestoire soils are those formed from the decay of 

 the underlying limestone. They are proverbially rich soils. 

 The presence of limestone in a soil is of great importance, 

 not merely because it is a plant food, but because of its 

 valuable action upon and reaction with the other soil 

 constituents. Limestone aids in the decay of vegetable 

 matter and the formation of nitrates. It also improves 

 the physical character of both clay and sandy soils, making 

 them more easily controlled. Soils found overlying lime- 

 stone, however, are not always high in lime, as in some 

 cases the limestone becomes soluble and is gradually 

 washed away. Nevertheless the soils in limestone regions 

 generally rank high in fertility. 



Soils are sometimes classified as "light" and "heavy" 

 soils. These terms do not refer to the actual weight of 

 the soil, but to the ease with which it may be worked 

 with tillage implements. A sandy soil, for instance, is 

 called a light soil, although it actually weighs more per 

 cubic foot than any other type of soil. 



The success of the lumber industry in the Pacific 

 Northwest in linked with the splendid development of the 

 irrigation projects in the West and Southwest. The west- 

 ern lumber business owes and always will owe more to 

 the irrigation and beneficent results which flow from it 

 than to any other single contributing factor in the devel- 

 opment of the natural territory, in which Pacific coast 

 lumber finds a market. A study of the great stretch of 

 country lying east and west of the Continental Divide and 

 south of the international boundary, embracing the great 

 states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colo- 

 rado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Wash- 

 ington, and to the south, California, Arizona, New Mexico 

 and Texas, makes one realize the enormous extent of the 

 territory in which, at least in part, irrigation is and must 

 always remain the dominant factor in its ulti- 

 mate development and growth. 



The passage of the bill, championed by 

 Senator Borah of Idaho, providing for the 

 issue of $20,000,000 certificates to be used for 

 the purpose of providing sufficient funds to 

 complete the national irrigation projects, num- 

 bering in excess of twenty, now in process of 

 completion, was an earnest attempt on the 

 part of Congress, that it was an unbusiness- 

 like policy to permit millions of dollars to be 

 spent on projects and lie idle, that only re- 

 quired a comparatively small amount of 

 money to complete them, in many cases, but 

 which was unavailing on account of the plan 

 of providing funds only from the sale of pub- 

 lic lands within the state where the project 

 was located. There were some exceptions to 

 the plan outlined in the distribution of funds 

 for irrigation projects, but in the main this 

 policy has controlled. The lumber interests 

 of the West and South lent their assistance to 

 the passage of this constructive piece of legis- 

 lation. They were not entirely unselfish in 

 their advocacy of this measure. 



To the lumbermen of the states of Mon- 

 tana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Califor- 

 nia, producing more than 8,000,000,000 feet of 

 lumber in 1910, the difficulty of finding a mar- 

 ket for their lower products of lumber has always been 

 a problem which has mitigated against the highest 

 development of the industry. This condition can only be 

 overcome by enlarging the home market. Conservative 

 lumbering is dependent entirely upon freight rates. The 

 cost of transportation must always bear a relative sig- 

 nificance to the value of the article to be marketed, or the 

 traffic will not move freely. Hence, it is to be readily seen, 

 the lumber interests of the West, if they hope to be suc- 

 cessful, must lend every assistance to building up and 

 creating a home market for their common grades of lum- 

 ber, which approximates 80 per cent of the tree, if they 

 can hope to make, their industry remunerative. 



Despite the enormity of the territory covered by the 

 states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho, 

 Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona a-nd 

 New Mexico, the natural zone in which western lumber- 

 men should find its chief distribution, nature has decreed 

 that the thirsty and productive soil must first be watered 

 before settlement and its consequent demand for lumber 

 is possible, except on a very limited scale. Thus the inti- 

 mate relationship between irrigation and the lumber in- 

 dustry of the West is easily discernible. But what par- 

 ticular interest does the cause of irrigation bear to the 

 great producers of lumber lying south of the Ohio river, 

 and why should they have lent their assistance through 



