18 FORAGE CONDITIONS ON NORTHERN BORDER OF GREAT BASIN. 



No. 40. — August 17, 1901, Malheur Lake bottoms, Island Ranch, about 15 miles 

 south of Burns, Oreg. Soil where awned sedge (Carex aristata) grew to the exclusion 

 of all other vegetation. This appears to be rich soil, and certainly produces magnifi- 

 cent crops of this important forage plant, 



No. 41- — August 17, 1901, Malheur Lake bottoms, Island Ranch, about 15 miles 

 south of Burns, Oreg. The soil from which this sample was taken produced in 

 restricted areas a ton to a ton and a half per acre of yellow top ( Calamagrostis hyper- 

 borea americana). The localities in which this grows are usually well drained, and 

 occur on slight elevations immediately surrounding the depressions where water 

 remains until about the middle of July. 



No. 43. — August 22, 1901, Agency Ranch, on North Fork of Malheur River, near 

 Beulah, Oreg. Meadow soil, where alfalfa, timothy, and redtop sown last spring have 

 made a fine growth. (See next sample.) 



No. 44- — August 22, 1901, Agency Ranch, on North Fork of Malheur River, near 

 Beulah, Oreg. The soil where this sample was taken differed but little in appear- 

 ance from the previous one, but it contained no forage plants, and the seeds sown 

 last spring failed to grow. This meadow is the most spotted one seen, although sim- 

 ilar conditions on less extensive areas are frequent. Small areas with good stands of 

 timothy, redtop, and alfalfa are common, while a few feet away there is nothing to 

 be found but a weedy development of a couple of the annual saltbushes, mainly 

 Atriplex truncata, and one of the western blights (Dondia depressa erecta). In some 

 places there is a little salt visible on the surface of the bare or weedy areas, but the 

 subsoil, to all appearances at least, is precisely the same as that which a few feet 

 away produces a good stand of the forage plants sown. 



No. 50. — August 23, 1901, Harper Ranch, on Malheur River, 40 miles above Ontario, 

 Oreg. The field from which this sample was taken was sown last spring to alfalfa, 

 Over the greater portion of it a fine stand was secured, but in one corner, which was 

 considerably lower than the remainder of the field, water collected from the two 

 irrigations which it received. There was no alfalfa whatever here, but a fine vol- 

 unteer crop of barnyard grass (Panicum crus-galli) appeared instead. (PL XVI, 

 fig. 1 . ) This volunteer crop would yield about 2 tons of dry feed per acre. 



PARTIAL ANALYSES OF SOIL SAMPLES. 



The following table of analyses of the samples of soils collected on 

 the trip and the remarks thereon were kindly furnished by the Bureau 

 of Soils of this Department: 



Partial analyses of soil samples. 





 a - 



P or. 



0." 

 a v S3 



U r-, > 



0) - >* 

 PL, 



I! 







CD 



~§ • 

 Cm 



"SO 



s 



CO 







o3 



GO 



CD 



w Oh 



O -— ' 

 A 



XT. 



CD 



3 



CD^ 



u 







m 



1 



Carbonate of | Remarks 

 lime in soil. Remarks. 



1 



0.13 



4.00 

 3.00 



.04 



.06 



.03 



.08 



4.50 

















Small amount . 



Not harmful amount of 



3 



4 



8 



0.00 

 .19 



0.07 

 .26 



0.31 

 .76 



2.41 

 .16 



Trace. 



0.07 



0.00 

 .00 



.00 



.00 



0.00 

 • .00 



.00 



.00 

 .00 

 .00 

 .00 



salts. 

 Sulphates (white alkali). 





Carbonates and chlorides 



None 



(black alkali). 

 Not harmful amount of 



11 













Small amount . 

 None 



salts. 

 Do. 



13 













.00 



.00 



Trace. 



Do. 



16 













Small amount . 

 None 



Do. 



17 



.00 



.06 



.37 



3. 28 



Trace. 



Sulphates (white alkali). 



