Canadian Agriculture. 
289 
" The specimens for analysis were not taken from soils crusted over with 
alkaline matter, but from spots where the ground was covered with a sparse 
vegetation. 
" Many of the alkali lands seem to have originated from an accumulation 
■of "water in low places, where there is an excess of alumina in the soil or sub- 
soil. The escape of the water by evaporation left the saline matter behind, 
and, in the case of salt (sodium chloride), whicli all waters are known to con- 
tain in at least minute quantities, the chlorine, by chemical reactions, separated 
from the sodium, which latter, uniting immediately with oxygen and carbonic 
acid, formed the soda compounds. 
" These alkali spots are often successfully cultivated. The first steps 
towards their renovation must be drainage and deep cultivation. The next 
step is the consumption of the excess of alkali, which can be effected by crops 
of the cereal grains in wet seasons. In such seasons these alkali lands, if 
deeply cultivated, often produce splendid crops of grain. Wheat is especially 
a great consumer of the alkalies ; and these being partly removed in this way, 
and the remaining excess mingled with the deeply-cultivated soil, renders it, 
in many instances, in a few years capable of being used for the other ordinary 
crops of Nebraska. Treated in this way, these alkali lands often become the most 
valuable portions of the farm. There are comparatively few alkali lands in 
the State that cannot be reclaimed in this way."* 
Though in the foregoing analyses the percentages of phos- 
phate of lime and of potash are high, the most remarkable feature 
is the extraordinary amount of carbonate of soda they show 
these lands to possess, which is more than sufficient to fully 
account for their alkaline character. 
Canadian Pacific Railway Experimental Farms. — In conse- 
quence of rumours and reports to the effect that much of the 
country along the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway in its 
•course across the third prairie steppe, which extends from Moose 
Jaw to Calgary, a distance of more than 400 miles, was largely 
made up of desert and alkali lands, and was consequently quite 
unfit for cultivation, the railway authorities determined to resort 
to the plucky expedient of establishing a number of experimental 
farms at various points on their line west of Moose Jaw, where 
they would be easy of access and examination by all travellers 
along the railway. Accordingly, on October 12th, 1883, a 
special train, consisting of fourteen cars and a locomotive, left 
Winnipeg for the west, carrying teams, men, and the equip- 
ment necessary for the establishment of the farms. So late in 
the season there was but little time in which to perform the 
necessary operations. As soon as the locality of a farm had 
been selected, the thirty teams were unloaded in the morning, 
and put to work under the direction of one of the Company's 
field inspectors, and continued to break the prairie-sod through- 
out the day. The Company's Land Commissioner, after seeing 
* ' United States Geological and Geographical Survey of Colorado and 
Adjacent Territory,' 1874. By F. V. Hayden, U.S. Geologist. Washington: 
"Government Printing Office, 1876, p. 260. 
VOL. XXI. — S. S. U 
