MS 
32 BULLETIN 502, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The first point to be taken up in the reclamation of this tract is 
the disposal of the waste water. The soil on the north half is mostly 
Fresno fine sandy loam, and the conditions are fairly uniform. The 
method of relief drainage should be used with six branches of 6-inch 
tile, running east, about 400 feet apart. The drainage of the south | 
half is a more complex problem; a combination of the relief and 
intercepting methods should be used. Branches “G” and “K” 
(fig. 6) are intercepting drains. The peculiar arrangement of the 
other lines is due to the irregularities in the seepage conditions and 
to the fact that limestone is found near the surface in some places, 
as an attempt was made to locate the lines so as to prevent rockwork 
in the trenching. The average depth of the system should be not 
less than 7 feet, and in no place should a line be less than 6 feet deep. 
EXAMPLE V. 
An investigation was made on this tract during the early part of 
the year 1915. A large number of test wells were drilled and a topo- 
graphic map of the underlying shale and water surface was made, 
as shown in figure 7. A pronounced shale ridge was found, and 
there was a marked resemblance between the shale and water con- 
tours (see figs. 7 and 8). As figure 8 indicates, the point of the shale 
ridge was discharging water into the soil beyond. At the time of the 
examination only a small portion of the alfalfa was affected between 
the point of the underlying shale ridge and the south fence line. A 
tile line reaching well into the shale point was staked out, as shown 
on the map. The owner was unable to install the line at that time; 
and the tract was visited again in the early part of 1916, when it 
was found that the affected area had spread over the entire south 
half of the tract. 
EXAMPLE VI. 
It is not known just when trouble first became apparent on the 
40 acres shown in figure 9, but from all indications it must have been 
at least three or four years before the time of making the preliminary 
examinations in the spring of 1913. At that time about 20 acres, 
extending north and south through the center of the field, were very 
wet and badly alkalied (Pl. VII, fig. 2). The whole 40 acres were at 
one time in alfalfa, and on both sides of the alkali strip alfalfa was 
still growing, with the stand about normal except immediately adja- 
cent to the wet land, where it was thinner and more spotted. 
The land to the north and west is higher than the tract under 
consideration, especially to the west, just across the road, where it 
rises to an elevation some 20 or 30 feet higher and culminates in a 
little ridge running north and south. Excessive irrigation on this 
ridge has been one of the chief sources of the seepage water, al- 
