IRRIGATION WATERS AND THEIR EFFECTS. 9 
foot of water per acre it would add three tons, 6,000 pounds, of 
these salts. If the potash contained in this quantity of salts were 
present as sulfates, it would weigh 27 pounds. • The remaining 
salts, 5,973 pounds, are either indifferent or when present in 
large quantities, undesirable. I have used Terry lake as an ex¬ 
ample in order to present the question which, as every one will 
see, is further raised by the use of seepage water. 
If these salts are not deposited on or in the soil the question 
relative to their influence is reduced to one relative to their im¬ 
mediate effect upon the plants. 
The salts present in Terry and Windsor lakes are calcic, 
magnesic and sodic sulfates with very little carbonate, probably 
sodic carbonate. These two lakes or reservoirs probably represent 
the greater part of the stored water used for irrigation and the 
rest will be represented by Long Pond and Warren lake water, 
which carries relatively more sodic carbonate and less sodic sulfate. 
The seepage water that I have examined has varied consider¬ 
ably, a result which was to be expected, but the general composi¬ 
tion of the mineral matter held in solution by these waters is fair¬ 
ly represented by the salts found in the stored water. The seep¬ 
age water in sections where irrigation is not general and the 
supply of water not abundant, is heavily charged with salts, calcic, 
magnesic and sodic sulfates, the last being strongly predominant. 
On the other hand samples collected under different conditions 
have been found to carry smaller amounts of soluble salts in solu¬ 
tion than some of the stored waters, and the salts present were cal¬ 
cic and magnesic sulfates together with carbonate, probably sodic 
carbonate. These statements are sufficient to set forth the com¬ 
position of these waters and their similarity in a very rough and 
general way. 
General statements are to be found of the effects of these 
salts on plants, but it would be more satisfactory if we had series 
of experiments giving us, conclusive results as to their detrimental 
or perhaps beneficial effects, when present in known proportions. 
This question is of interest to us and may become more so, but it 
has not been of such general interest as to lead to the making of 
tedious experiments to determine it. The tolerance of these 
salts by ordinary plants, sodic carbonate excepted, is probably far 
beyond the limit to which they are at all likely to accumulate in 
our soils. 
The samples of soils which I have found to be richest in 
alkali salts yielded upon extraction a little less than 4 per cent. 
This was beyond the limit at which we successfully cultivated 
plants but we succeeded in soil, the surface portion of which 
showed one-half this amount or 2.0 per cent., but taking the first 
four inches of soil there was only 1.4 per cent. The salts found in 
