TO CROPS AND SOIL BY 
INJURY WASHOE PLANT. 35 
While this table does not give the same results for either total or 
soluble copper as were obtained in 1906, it does show that all of these 
soils contain very large quantities of copper, enough of which is 
present in a soluble form to be dangerous to, if not prohibitive of, 
many forms of plant growth. It would hardly be expected that the 
results obtained on copper, either soluble or insoluble, would be the 
same for any two years, since it is very unevenly distributed over 
the field and furthermore is constantly changing in its proportions 
according to the rainfall, irrigation, amount of oxidation, season, ete. 
It would only be expected that any two years would show the same 
general condition, and this 1s what these analyses show. 
It has been suggested that the soils irrigated by the Deer Lodge 
River are already so alkaline that they are unfit for growing crops, 
and therefore the addition of copper to the soil can not make matters 
worse. To test this point the samples of soils collected in 1906 
were examined for the soluble salts usually present in alkali land 
and a determination of black alkali was made by the Skinner ¢ method 
with the following results: 
TABLE XII.—Soluble salt content of surface foot of soils irrigated by Deer 
Lodge River. 
[Caleulated to dry basis. ] 
ACTUAL DETERMINATIONS. 
No. 4182;|No. 4183;|No. 4184:|No. 4185;|No. 4186; 
: | 12 miles | 93 miles | 12 miles | 83 miles | 14 miles 
Constituents. | NEoft | NEof | NEof | NEot | NEot 
| smelter. | smelter. | smelter. | smelter. | smelter. 
| Per cent.| Per cent.| Per cent.| Per cent.| Per cent. 
IBICARDONI CAC CaO Nes sas See ee ere ees Es] 0.034 0.101 0.018 0.165 0.107 
Sul phariesacidh Onset ee B55 .027 .197 .892 .031 
COG ORE a Ss = es ee gn ohn a a .005 .028 005 030 . 006 
@arhomi cial delOMe a= et ee ee None. None. None None. None. 
OP CTO Ha ees es =k eg Se ee Oe ee ee pee ee Cee eres . 100 .048 .050 .215 034 
Miaion CS riasstet raeines e h S et  l .029 012 .012 .079 .0095 
BS GIT nee a a re EOLGin| See RE 025 lis - 002 
RO Gay aes alee eee ee ee Fo eee 539 .216 307 1.494 .190 
HYPOTHETICAL COMBINATION 
Galelumebicanbonates. = see 0.045 0.134 6.024 ().219 0.137 
WHEAT ESHTTATA, [SHO YE] TL ONAN CCS ae | | ee | ee -005 
Walciumeysmliplwatets se ws ewe Wh ee ee ee .303 .038 .149 EYE (| ee Se 
MAS TNESTIMESU Dae ae ese eS Sa ee eee ule Sy] eae ae kas 039: .390 . 039 
CalenimarchlO Gi dessa ee ee ee (TUT | ree cu se So NOP ta Se 
VE oneSlumMmechlOnige===- 222252. Ne Dreier eae a (2 Os |e eee ae || See pe Se .002 
SOGdiIMIMESUphiaitie= as Sas es ee ee ee SAO) | See ae 067 230 oi eis tee Nea 
SOc hihi Cel nt ase Fa ee ene OUSFieo See .008 .049 .007 
UB BY | See Se ee ee ee ee .539 PAL 007 1.494 .190 
EST keoraa) izeaal ieee SP Se eae ee ee None. None. None. None None 
From these results it is evident that none of the soil samples ex- 
amined contains any black alkali or a sufficient amount of white alkali 
to be injurious to ordinary farm ¢ 
rops. 
aJ. Amer. Chem. Soe., 1906, 28: 77. 
