1850 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



Highest Concentration of AlkaU Harm- 

 less to Yarions Forms of Yege- 

 tation 



The following table, prepared by Pro- 

 fessor Hllgard, gives a fair idea of the 

 relative resistances of various crops. The 

 information was gathered under certain 

 conditions, but experience shows the rela- 

 tions are generally true. One or two ex- 

 ceptions have been noted in several West- 

 erns states, viz, corn, which appears at 

 the end of Professor Hilgard's list, has 

 shown itself to U more resistant than al- 

 falfa and the grains, and grapes have 

 withstood conditions that drove alfalfa 

 and sugar beets from the field. 



(Pounds of sodium per acre in four foot 



depth.) 



Sodium Sodium Sodium 



Sul- Chlor- Car- 



pbate ide bonate 



U,200 27,700 59,200 



40,700 49,300 8,160 



33 200 1,020 



Forms of 

 Vegetation 



Salt grass.. 



Salt bush 



Alfalfa, old. . 



Alfalfa, young 



Sorghum . 



Eadish . . . 



Sugar beet 



Sunflower 



Grapes 



Onions . 



Potatoes 



Carrots 



Figs . . . 



Almonds 



Barley 



Pears . 



WHeat , 



Apples 



Celery . 



Rye . . . 



Prunes . 



Peaches 



Apricots . 



Sweet corn 



Total 



Alkali 



.136,000 



. 56,000 



. 39,400 



4,690 



29,100 



22,500 



21,400 



21,400 



16,300 



3,600 

 20,000 

 16,800 

 17,000 

 17,000 

 13,200 



3,810 

 880 

 4,030 

 2,140 

 3,790 



13,700 2,290 



13,700 2,290 



10,200 

 9,430 

 9,130 

 9,120 

 7,480 

 6,170 

 5,760 

 4,890 

 4,460 

 4,220 

 4,030 

 3,600 



8,050 

 7,920 

 7,350 

 3,890 

 5,760 

 4,900 

 4,610 

 1,320 

 3,170 

 2,990 

 3,110 

 2,800 



930 

 320 

 940 



2,000 

 540 

 456 

 488 



3,780 

 680 

 472 

 393 

 378 



1,020 

 4,110 

 3,780 

 1,740 

 760 

 3,280 



540 

 486 

 630 

 5,280 

 760 

 640 

 278 



"iii 



590 

 295 

 208 



780 



By reference to the ahove table it is seen 

 that in some instances the amount of 

 total salts which a plant will withstand is 

 greater than the sum of the three compo- 

 nent quantities. The reason for this is 

 that the salts operate against one another 

 and neutralize tlie respective actions. 



R. A. Hart, 

 United States Drainage Engineer. 



TEUCK Am IBUIT SOILS 

 Early Truck and Potato Soils 



To grow market-garden crops in a sat- 

 isfactory manner and to get them in the 

 market early enough to warrant a good 

 price, one needs a notably warm soil. The 

 better types of this class of soil usually 

 contain relatively large amounts of sand 

 and small amounts of clay. Snyder, 



whose discussion of this matter is being 

 followed in this particular portion of this 

 article, suggests that the better types of 

 early truck and potato soils are apt to 

 contain about 60 per cent of medium sand, 

 from 20 to 25 per cent of silt, perhaps 

 about 5 per cent of clay, and that, when 

 carrying 3 per cent of silt, they hold from 

 5 to 12 per cent of water. He points out 

 that when these crops are grown on soils 

 containing much more water than this, 

 they are apt to be slow in maturing. 

 When used for the production of early 

 market-garden crops, and as one gets fur- 

 ther north, the proportion of sand may 

 relatively increase, and of silt decrease. 

 Soils like this are not apt to be naturally 

 as rich in plant food as are some of the 

 other types, but are of a nature to make 

 admirable use of large a^antities of added 

 plant food. 



General Truck and Fruit Soils 



Where extreme earliness is not a fac- 

 tor, and where water constitutes a large 

 percentage of the market crop, as in mar- 

 ket-garden crops and fruit, more of clay, 

 rather less of sand and, consequently, a 

 greater water-holding capacity are to be 

 desired than when early truck is grown. 

 From 10 to 15 per cent of clay, 50 per 

 cent of sand, and 10 to 18 per cent of 

 water are preferred. Great divergence 

 of practice is observed, particularly in the 

 growth of fruit. Some fruits succeed ad- 

 mirably on soils with a large percentage 

 of clay; others on soils such as those now 

 under consideration. 



EFFECT OF MULCHES OF DIFFERENT 



DEPTH m COlVSEBVINe SOIL 



MOISTUBE 



The purpose of the soil mulch is to 

 break, as completely as possible, the cap- 

 illary connection by means of which the 

 soil moisture moves upward, and to pro- 

 tect the moist soil below from the rapid 

 evaporating effect of moving air. No 

 mulch can accomplish these results per- 

 fectly and prevent all loss by evaporation. 

 Since the mulch, being dry soil, in which 

 plant roots cannot grow, is just that much 

 lost soil so far as furnishing plant food is 

 concerned, it ought not to be any deeper 

 than is necessary to conserve the largest 



