JOURNAL OF fflmWL RESEARCH 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
You. V Washington, D. C., October 4, 1915 No. 1 
EFFECT OF ALKALI SALTS IN SOILS ON THE GERMI¬ 
NATION AND GROWTH OF CROPS 
By Frank S. Harris, 1 
Professor of Agronomy, Utah Agricultural Experiment Station 
INTRODUCTION 
In arid regions the soil is likely to contain an accumulation of soluble 
salts in such quantities that the growth of vegetation is hindered. 
Indeed, in many sections the type of vegetation is determined almost 
entirely by the alkali content of the soil. Every grade may be found, 
from the soil containing so much soluble salt that no vegetation whatever 
will grow to the soil containing scarcely sufficient soluble material for the 
needs of plants. 
In the western part of the United States there are millions of acres of 
land of each alkali type. The worst of these lands need not be considered 
at present for agricultural purposes, but there are vast areas just on the 
border line. If everything is favorable, they produce profitable crops; 
but during the average year crops are a failure. If a permanent agri¬ 
culture is to be established on these soils, it will be necessary to increase 
greatly our knowledge of methods of handling them. 
A large part of the unsettled land of the West contains more or less 
alkali. Chemical analysis of the soil can easily be made and the alkali 
content determined; where the alkali content is very high, the land is 
not suited to agriculture; where it is low, the alkali can not be con¬ 
sidered an interfering factor. It is the soil containing a medium amount 
that causes the difficulty. Many projects that were condemned when 
an analysis of the soil was made have proved later to be fertile agricul¬ 
tural tracts. On the other hand, lands whose salt content was thought 
to be sufficiently low for crop production have later been abandoned. 
There are not sufficient exact experimental data available to make it 
1 The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to his assistants, Messrs. Howard J. Maughan, 
George Stewart, and A. F. Bracken, for their faithful and intelligent efforts in conducting certain parts of 
the work; to Mr. R. M. Madsen, Miss Alma Esplin, and Mr. N. I. Butt for their care in making many 
laborious computations; and to a number of other faithful assistants who helped in conducting the 
experiments. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Dept, of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
aa 
(1) 
Vol. V, No. 1 
Oct. 4, 1915 
Utah—-i 
