Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 5 
some measure, but both of these are used to designate, in most cases, 
extreme conditions in respect to the amount of water and alkali pres¬ 
ent. lhey are further used without any definite or even approxi¬ 
mate idea of the amount of either water or alkali which may be in¬ 
jurious. When crops fail in such areas, the water and the alkali are 
ea sily see n conditions to which the public has persistently attributed 
tne lailure and many other mishaps which have overtaken their 
crops without any question as to the actual effects of these condi¬ 
tions, or any regard to the possibility of there being other causes 
v hich they cannot see with their own eyes. 
The questions of seepage and alkali appeal to all as serious 
questions, especially at first. Our soils are alkaline and so much 
was said about this fact, especially in the more remote past, that we 
all came to believe that the alkalis were much worse than we now 
believe them to be. Our Colorado people read of the alkali ques¬ 
tions of California and applied all of the statements relative to the 
California conditions to the facts in Colorado, which was not justi¬ 
fied. I may illustrate this by the treatment given a certain piece of 
land,^ the composition of which has been studied in considerable 
detail. The piece of land is rather strongly alkaline. In California 
they have found that the application of land plaster, ground gypsum 
in quantities proportioned to the amount of sodic carbonate, black 
alkali, piesent amelioiates the conditions. These parties applied 
land plaster in liberal quantity, perhaps as much as five tons per acre, 
whereas, the facts were that this land contained no sodic carbonate 
but was already so rich in gypsum that the mineral had crystallized 
out in little aggregates and veinlets, carrying many tons of it in each 
acre-foot of soil. Much has been said about alkali, and we are apt 
to apply all of the recorded evils attributed to it in accounting for 
ti oubles, the causes of which we do not more definitely know. 
I began the study of this subject sixteen years or more ago, and 
nave analyzed alkalis from very many sections of this state, likewise 
ground and seepage waters and also drain waters, and have further 
made persistent efforts to establish the amount of alkali in the soil 
and irrigating waters which would do damage to crops. The limits 
found have been so w'tde that I abide by the statement made ten 
years ago that our alkali questions resolve themselves into questions 
of drainage. Our alkali salts consisting essentially of sulfates of 
soda, magnesia and lime, with the chlorid and carbonate of sodium 
as subordinate constituents, are so mild in their action, that but little, 
if any, serious damage is caused by them in the quantities present, 
even to young plants. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH BEETS ON AEKAEI SOIES. 
As our nitrates appear in many places at or near to the margins 
of alkalized areas, and further, because the poor quality of many 
