INJURY TO CROPS AND SOIL BY WASHOE PLANT. 33 
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 1s 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 is 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. 
[Calculated to dry basis. ] 
ACTUAL DETERMINATIONS. 
No. 4182:|/No. 4183:|No. 4184:|No. 4185:|No. 4185; 
Aes, Pe 12 miles | 93 miles | 12 miles | 83 miles | 14 miles 
Constituents. NE of | NEof | NEof.| NEof | NEof 
smelter. smelter. | smelter. | smelter. | smelter. 
Per cent.| Per cent.| Per cent.| Per cent.| Per cent. 
eye OTE AC ICIIOTA = = ey Se 0.034 0.101 0.018 0.165 0.107 
Ss ELITE T SOE A101 a ee Se aS ee ee | 355 | -027 197 .832 .031 
CADSR Ti ee eS Se ee ae ae fa BE ee eee -005 -028 - 005 -030 .006 
eae und Ols ee a eS Pe) None. None. None. None. None. 
ST CTE ae ee ee ee en ee .100 -048 .050 215 .034 
PSECU E SS AT he a a a .029 | -012 .012 .079 .0095 
= VU 2 ee i i a oe 2 Ut hy er cece -025 Bs ie (53 .002 
SOT ET) bo orleans SE eye eae ee .009 216 007 1.494 .190 
HYPOTHETICAL COMBINATION, 
enn ICATDONALC 2. 28 Se eee tee 0.045 | 0.134 | G.024 | 0.219 0.137 
Mocneotth DICATDON ALE. =~ 2 = =e = 4 |e, Alen <u ST (cE ae RT pe ae es oT eee .005 
vile 5) TOSS TL Do sa a ee ea a eo .303 038 -149 | eee 
MTC MSNM AN ALeS- =e ee al Ls -059 .390 .089 
ETT ti ee a {Fae Lon ee SOU | ee eee 
Mibctreteintrevad wintiatngs = ec Se ae a ae ee Sa J? 002 
SET ITELCOW SECT O) £6 1 2 A i A cL Ls) aes ae O67 | 5 eee ae 
SUD ELEC RT PWD) Gi Lane lee RR ee ae 008 | ee eee 008 049 | 007 
SERA A poe tas SRY Laas eee | 539 | .212 307 1.494 190 
eee ee a | 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 crops. 
4J, Amer. Chem, Soc., 1906, 28: 77. 
