4 
Bulletin 65. 
the time of setting, the manner of setting and their subsequent 
treatment. The failure of the forestry experiment in this portion 
of the plantation was quite certainly due to the soil. To be more 
specific, it was due either to the salts present in the soil, to the soil 
being so wet as to prevent a sufficiently free access of the atmos¬ 
phere, or to some other unfavorable condition. The presumption 
was that such large quantities of salts as were evidently present 
were quite sufficient to prevent, by their direct action, the develop¬ 
ment of the plants without considering their effect upon the soil. 
OUR ORIGINAL OBJECT EXTENDED. 
§ 3. The primary object of the study was to determine, if pos¬ 
sible, the effects of these salts upon certain crops, to see if their ac¬ 
cumulation could be prevented or hindered by cropping, or even 
removed by cropping to sugar beets after they had accumulated to 
the extent of producing a decided alkalization of the soil. As we 
stated in Bulletin 46, the beet crop did not remove more soda salts 
from the soil under these conditions than under ordinary conditions, 
and it became necessary to extend our study in order to obtain an 
answer to our inquiry as to how we could ameliorate such condi¬ 
tions. The question assumed such shape that we found ourselves 
almost compelled to address ourselves to the study of the soil itself. 
THE APPLICATION OF GYPSUM NOT ADVANTAGEOUS. 
§ 4. There is a general impression entertained by some that 
the application of gypsum to our alkalized soils would mitigate the 
bad effects of these salts. This opinion has found some support 
from the results of its use in California. The cases are entirely dif¬ 
ferent. We have not the conditions that the Californians have, and 
the benefits obtained by the application of gypsum in their case, 
will not appear in ours. The character of our “ alkali ” is such that 
we cannot expect any benefit from the use of gypsum. In our par¬ 
ticular case its addition would be a waste of material and a loss of 
labor, the soil being already so full of this salt that it can easily be 
recognized as crystalline aggregates disseminated through the soil, 
•often giving it a mottled appearance. The addition of more gyp¬ 
sum under such conditions would be utterly useless. 
THE CHARACTER OF THE SOIL. 
§ 5. The soil itself, as was stated in Bulletin 46, varies in its 
character from a loamy soil with a calcareous, clayey subsoil, to a 
fine alluvium resting upon a stratum of gravel, separated from it 
by a rather compact clay, but with no proper hard pan. The whole 
soil is very retentive of moisture, and it is difficult to determine 
whether there is any direct draining of the water from the alluvial 
soil above into the gravel stratum below or not. The configuration 
