SOILS 



1849 



there is no single article of human food 

 that is sufficient of itself. 



This has been discovered to he true in 

 the feeding of stock as well as in the 

 preparation of human food, and it is a 

 coninaon remark among the breeders of 

 poultry that chickens, in order to lay 

 large quantities of eggs, must have a bal- 

 anced ration. 



This seems to be a law that runs 

 through all nature, and it is equally true 

 in vegetable as it is in animal life. The 

 vegetable gets its food mainly from the 

 soil, and it is known that clay is a fertil- 

 izer for sandy loam. Sand will also fer- 

 tilize a clay soil, a boggy soil, a gumbo or 

 an adobe soil; and in turn the boggy soil 

 will fertilize the sand or the clays of the 

 upland. A soil rich in humus will fertil- 

 ize both sand and clay. "Wood ashes is 

 an excellent fertilizer for apple orchards, 

 and alkali is a fertilizer for soils deficient 

 in the alkali substances. Alkali is a fer- 

 tilizer up to a certain degree, when it be- 

 comes injurious. 



The proper balance of food substances 

 for the different kinds of vegetables and 

 fruits may be hard to determine, but in 

 the ability to do this lies the difference 

 between the ordinary farmer and the one 

 who succeeds in the highest degree. 



Granville Lowther 



InflueBce of Alkali on the Germination 

 and Growth of Plants 



In experiments by the Wyoming sta- 

 tion on the influence of alkali salts on 

 the germination of wheat and rye it was 

 found that small amounts of these salts 

 hasten germination and no doubt also 

 "assist in the life of the plant, either 

 stimulating its growth or acting directly 

 •as plant food." When, however, the pro- 

 portion of alkali salts exceeded certain 

 limits, germination was interfered with. 



*Plants Adapted to Alkali Soils 



Throughout the western portion of the 

 United States, especially where irrigation 

 is practiced, areas of alkali soils of 

 greater or less extent are of frequent oc- 



currence. These soils derive their name 

 from the fact that they are strongly im- 

 pregnated with soluble salts, which efflo- 

 resce or "bloom out" m the form of a pow- 

 der or crust during dry weather follow- 

 ing rains or irrigation. The basis ot 

 these salts is mainly soda, together with 

 smaller amounts of potash and usually a 

 little lime and magnesia. They are mix- 

 tures chiefly of sodium sulphate, sodium 

 chloride (common salt), and sodium car- 

 bonate in varying proportions. They 

 often contain in addition small amounts 

 of potassium sulphate, sodium phosphate, 

 and sodium nitrate, substances whose fer- 

 tilizing value IS well known. 



Of the different forms of alkali, that 

 in which sodium carbonate predominates 

 (black alkali) is by far the most injuri- 

 ous to vegetable growth and to the tilling 

 qualities of the soil; common salt (sod- 

 ium chloride) ranks next in injurious- 

 ness, while sodium sulphate is the least 

 injurious. 



While the occurrence of alkali in excess 

 in the soil constitutes a serious menace 

 to the successful production of most farm 

 crops, recent investigations have shown 

 that there are many plants of economic 

 value which are able to tolerate a consid- 

 erable amount of alkali. The investiga- 

 tions of the California station have shown 

 that the resistance to alkali varies 

 greatly with the kind of plant and the 

 character of the salts in the alkali. 



Thus the plants of the goosefoot fam- 

 ily, comprehending, besides the goose- 

 foot proper, the beet, spinach, samphire, 

 saltwort and the salt bushes generally, 

 will resist very large amounts of all 

 three of the salts; while, on the other 

 extreme, the legumes — clovers, peas, 

 beans, vetches, etc — resent even small 

 amounts of either. The entire sunflower 

 family is rWher tolerant of alkali, while 

 most of the cultivated grasses proper are 

 quite sensitive, if only because their shal- 

 low rooting exposes them peculiarly to 

 the evil effects of the surface accumula- 

 tion of alkali by evaporation. 



* See also United States Department of Api- 

 culture Farmers' Bulletins 92, page 5; 267, 

 page 14 



United States Department of Agricultuie, 

 Office of Experiment Stations 



