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possible to locate the new factory accurately with reference to the most suitable 
lands whose products shall in future support its operations. The farmer, also, as 
well as the factory, is protected in this instanee, and he is spared the useless effort 
to grow scanty tonnages on too sandy and unsuitable areas, despite the blandish^ 
ments of the beet-contract man, who for a bonus of so much an acre would willingly 
lure the farmer into disappointing toil. 
It is evident, therefore, in this instance, that the results of this pioneering soil 
survey, preceding rather than following the inception of much of our agricultural 
industry, exert a strong, safe, guiding influence upon our development. With us it 
need not be "cut and dry, and dry again," but choose reasonably that location 
where soil conditions justify the expectation of certain results. 
But of still greater value is the alkali survey of a new district such as ours, either 
as a forerunner of the settler or for the interpretation of constantly arising conditions. 
The soil is comparatively an open book in which any man with a spade may read 
as deeply as he needs. The alkali is a treacherous, concealed enemy whose ambus- 
cade for untold centuries has been patiently awaiting a victim. Scattered through the 
surface 10 feet of virgin soil, the farmer has no means of estimating its amount or 
calculating its force when irrigation shall have concentrated it in the top soil. Locali- 
ties, therefore, which on close inspection seemed free from this dreaded contingency 
are often laid waste by the slow and relentless "rise of the alkali." 
In the West, therefore, where development is rapid, where the territory is vast, 
where the conditions are new to the incoming settlers, where the emergencies are 
unexpected and severe, and the demands upon the time of station men are frequent 
and urgent, the possession of rapid field methods for alkali determination, even 
though not of refined accuracy, is of inestimable value. Such methods are those 
developed for field use by the Bureau of Soils, especially the electrolytic bridge for 
determination of total soluble salts. 
Let me illustrate the usefulness of the latter by a recent instance: Probably the 
finest deciduous orchard in the Southwest changed hands about a year ago, the pur- 
chaser being an eastern man but little familiar with southwestern agriculture. The 
trees, mainly in good condition until recently, suffered considerably during the 
severe conditions of the past season from an unknown cause. The station was called 
upon to determine the difficulty, if possible, in time to avert threatened disaster. The 
first examination revealed none of the ordinary diseases of deciduous fruit trees in 
our region. Crown gall was absent. The Bryobia mite and the red spider were 
guiltless. Sunburn could not consistently explain the appearance of the trees. 
Alkali was not suspected by the owner, the district being reputed free therefrom 
and accumulations of salts not being even then conspicuous. The appearance and 
lingering manner of death of the trees, however, indicated that as a possible cause; 
so, another day, armed with a bridge, a table for temperature corrections, an alkali 
curve for that region, an auger, and a pair of overalls, we began a series of borings 
in the most thrifty and least thrifty parts of the orchard. To be brief, the day's 
work, in part calculated upon the ground, proved the association of the largest per- 
centages of soluble salts with the greatest loss of trees. For instance, in an unflooded 
tree row, where many trees were dying, there was found in the first foot of soil 0.09 
per cent soluble salt, in the second foot of soil 0.06 per cent soluble salt, in the third 
foot of soil 0.07 per cent soluble salt, in the fourth foot of soil 0.07 per cent soluble 
salt, in the fifth foot of soil 0.10 per cent soluble salt. 
In an unirrigated middle near by was found in the first foot of soil 0.11 per cent 
soluble salt, in the second foot of soil 0.13 per cent soluble salt, in the third foot of 
soil 0.09 percent soluble salt, in the fourth foot of soil 0.10 per cent soluble salt. 
In another part of the orchard, where the trees were in good condition, a tree row 
gave in the first foot of soil 0.05 per cent soluble salt, in the second foot of soil 0.06 
per cent soluble salt, in the third foot of soil 0.06 per cent soluble salt; and in an 
adjacent middle was found in the first foot of soil 0.02 per cent soluble salt, in the 
second foot of soil 0.02 per cent soluble salt, in the third foot of soil 0.02 per cent 
soluble salt, in the fourth foot of soil 0.04 per cent soluble salt, quantities ranging from 
a half to a fourth of those found where trees were dying. 
It was possible at the same time to determine approximately the effectiveness of 
flooding as a remedy for the existing condition. At a point near the alkaline tree 
row just mentioned, where the ground had been flooded three times during the 
summer, the first foot contained 0.03 per cent soluble salt, the second foot contained 
0.03 per cent soluble salt, the third foot contained 0.04 per cent soluble salt, or about 
one-third the salt content of the adjacent unirrigated tree row. This circumstance 
indicated the readily drainable character of this soil and led to the recommendation, 
after the verification of these figures by repeated borings, of the method of throwing 
up embankments on either side of the tree rows and using the limited supply of 
irrigating water available for flooding the space between. This method is used 
