September 12, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



151 



Eange there seems to be all possible varieties and combinations of 

 soils. 



The nature of California soils can better be shown by taking 

 some representative soils in the various districts, and giving the 

 complete analysis from several diiierent localities. 



Bench Lands and Sierra Foot-hills. 



Red 

 Chaparral. 



Insoluble matter, and slUca 



Potash 



Soda 



Lime 



Magnesia 



Br. oxide of maugaLese... 



Peroxide of Irou 



Alumina . . 



Phosphoric acid 



Sulphuric acid 



Water and organic matter. 



Total 



.067 

 7.705 

 14.443 

 .047 

 .074 



The famous bed-rook land, long considered worthless, lies on 

 the borders of the valley. The soluble silica runs to six and eight 

 per cent; alumina, above five per cent. There are only small 

 quantities of potash, soda, and magnesia, but the sub-soil in a 

 measure supplies these deficiencies. Lime is in adequate quan- 

 tity. This is the soil where giant-powder is used to break up the 

 Ijed-rock when planting orchards, and the trees afterwards thrive. 



The dry bog soil is immensely rich, equal in native qualities to 

 the famous buckshot soils of the Yazoo bottoms, but the surplus 

 of alkaline salts prevents its use until reclaimed by fresh water or 

 gypsum. The wire-grass soil is highly productive. There is a 

 little alkali, but not enough to injure it. The brown adobe is a 

 very representative soil, deep reddish brown in color, contains 

 much sand, and is easily tilled. 



Southern California Soils. 



Insoluble matter and soluble silica 



Potash 



Soda 



Lime 



Magnesia 



Br. oxide of manganese — 



Peroxide of Iron 



Alumina 



Phosphoric acid 



Sulphuric acid 



Carbonic acid 



Water and organic matter.. 



Total 



Silty Soli. 

 Lower 

 Bench. 



87.511 



3.350 

 3 095 



The foot-hill region ranges in width from ten to fifteen miles. 

 The soils show very considerable differences, but the greater por- 

 tion are of a "fair to high quality.'' There is a "mountain 

 adobe " of the high valleys, which in some cases runs very high 

 In magnesia, alumina, and ferric oxide. The " mining slum'' is 

 of exceedingly varying quality, some of it worthless for a long 



time ; in other sections, a fair garden soil almost immediately. A 

 large percentage of lime is present in many cases in the mining 

 debris, or sediment. 



The soils of the southern region — south of Tehachipi — are per- 

 haps as varied as in any part of California. The great Mojave 

 Desert is one of the important features. Here extensive tracts 

 only lack water to make them of much cultural value. In fact, 

 this high plain has ample lime and potash, though little humus, 

 and hardly enough phosphoric acid. The arable lands of south- 

 ern California consist of "bottoms," bench lands, mesas or high 

 bench lands, mountain soils, and seacoast soils. The coast valleys 

 are strong in phosphates; the mountain lands have more lime and 

 humus. Reddish gravelly soils, excellent for fruit, are a charac- 

 teristic feature. 



There is a sllty soil in many places, which retains its tilth so 

 well that a man can easily thrust an axe-handle down to the head 

 in the light-umber soil. 



The Coast Range, like southern California, has so wide a range 

 of sorts that a hundred analyses would not be sufficient to ex- 

 haust the number of typical cases. Many of the light soils show 

 an especial povrer for absorbing moisture, and a high percentage 

 of humus. Phosphates will probably be the first things to be ex- 

 hausted. As a rule, they are adapted to fruits rather than to 

 grains. There are black adobe soil, redwood bottom, yellow and 

 brick-red mountain soils, gravels, loams, and almost every possible 

 variety and combination. Charles Howard Shinn. 



Niles, Cal., Sept. 3. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



An American Geological Railway Guide. By James Macparlane. 

 2d ed., revised and enlarged. New York, Appleton. 8°. 



From a geologic point of view, this is a model handbook for 

 tourists. The names of the railway stations are arranged as in an 

 ordinary time-table, vpith the distances in miles from the beginning 

 of the line ; but, instead of the times of running trains, the trav- 

 eller is informed of the age of the bed rocks and the height of 

 each station in feet above the sea. Abundant footnotes also call 

 attention to localities of special interest to the collector of fossils 

 and minerals, or to quarries, mines, oil or gas wells, remarkable 

 waterfalls, gorges, or mountain views. 



Dr. Macfarlane is well known by his earlier work, " The Coal 

 Regions of America." Since his death in 1885, his son has be- 

 stowed much care and effort, during the scanty leisure allowed by 

 professional duties, to the completion of this new edition of the 

 "Railway Guide." In this work he has been aided by many 

 geologists, both of this country and Canada, who have contributed 

 tbe portions relating to the regions covered by their field-work. 

 Among these names we note Broadhead, J. L. and H. D. Camp- 

 bell, Chamberlin, Chance, Chester, Collett, Condon, Cooper, 

 Crosby, Dana, Darton, Davis, G. M. Dawson, Dwight, Emmons, 

 Fontaine, Gannett, Gesner, Gilbert, Hague, Hall, Hilgard, Hitch- 

 cock, Hunt, Irving, Johnson, Kerr, Lesley, Loughridge, McGee, 

 Newberry, Orton, Owen, Procter, Pumpelly, W. B. Rogers, Rus- 

 sell, SaSord, Shaler, Smith, Smock, Stevenson, St. John, Todd, 

 Uhler, Upham, White, Whitfield, G. H. Williams, Willis, A. and 

 N. H. Winchell, Worthen, Wright. The book is prefaced by 

 tables of the geologic formations and their descriptions, occupy- 

 ing about fifty pages, "intended for railway travellers who are 

 not versed in geology." 



A Stem Dictionary of the English Language. By John Ken- 

 nedy. New York, Barnes (Amer. Book Co.). 8°. 



The author of this work believes that children in learning to 

 read should trace words back to the stem from which they are de- 

 rived, but that in so doing they should not go out of the bounds 

 of their own language. Thus, he holds that bene- in the word 

 benefit should be treated as the stem of the word, without regard 

 to its previous history in Latin. With this view he has prepared 

 this dictionary, giving the most important stems derived from 

 Latin and otBer tongues, with the principal words in which they 

 occur and their definitions, and also the foreign words from which 

 they are derived. Stems of Saxon origin are not usually given, 



