Arizona republican., 1891-04-30

soda IS constantly increasing ln the sur face soil, the final result is that at no time when either wet, moist or dry can 1t be got into suitable condition for | crops. Understandings thoroughly with tile will usually cure such lands quickly by teaching the alkali out through the underdrains. Good sharp sand in quan. tity spread on the land would be far better than manure. A perfect cure, if it could be had cheaply, would be heavy applications of the sulphate of lime, otherwise known as gypsum and land plaster. This should be sown broadcast on adobe lands in early winter, and with the grain on sedimentary and sandy al- kali lands. Some black adobe lands also | need lime. Some of the finest garden soils known in the world are seen where they are mixed with large amount of decayed or decaying fresh water shells, and are elevated a very little above the surrounding level.
 Underdrainage with tile, though quite expensive, i5 the complete mode of re- claiming black adobe and all alkaline c hoAAc. ~ lS d llillt SlOW, Dul time always cures that if there is rain fall sufficient to carry the water down through the tiles, and if there is not, flooding in winter will cure. The alkali being soluble in water, teaches town with it, and then away to the great salty sea, where nature designed it to go.
 Stiff upland or brown adobe will re- spond most gratefully to straw manure or vegetable matter of any kind turned under, and on this coast will gather sui ticient nitrogen from the air, if kept constantly stirred through spring and summer, and this is much cheaper than nitrate of soda. Yet the tops of our hills, wind-swept, may be so low in nj trates that it would pay to buy it. The very worst waste and outrage on good sense is the piling of manure around fruit trees on these rich valley soils and placing rank, unrotted manure in the holes before planting the trees, to their almost certain death. This is carrying coals to Newcastle, for fact. Another serious error is piling manure snugly around the stems of trees. Fresh, un. | fermented manure may often be seen heaped directly against the stem of a fruit tree ten to twenty inches in depth, which heats so soon as wet by rain. | This often kills the trees, while as a manure it can do the tree no more good than if it had been piled on top of Mt. ! Diablo. If it does not heat and kill the | tree it tends to make tender roots near the surface and moisture where not wanted and to draw the deadly woolly aphis. The fruit tree had no more use for manure than for whisky or quinine. The soil was too rich for the best results to start with.
 And farther, it is demonstrable that at least one-half of the plantations of strawberries and other small fruits in the prairie states, and more especially on this coast, have been ruined by heavy applications of strong animal manure.
 Berries have little use for barnyard lnanures or chemical fertilizers on any reasonably good soil. Strawberries w,il grow splendIdly on soils that were once | good for corn and wheat but have be come worn out for these. What berries want is q good, deep friable soil, that will hold moisture well-not toe rich, and good cultivation. A little bi, too much humus invites large, tender leaf growths, liable to disease and little fruit production. And the same is true of fruits of nearly every kind. A deep porous, well drained soil, cultivated deeply in winter and shallow in spring and summer--not too rich, fairly gooC upland soil--is the place to grow lasting trees and good fruits.
 With the market gardener it is differ cut. His plants are an exceedingly art ficial production, inured to life of tn, highest possible stimulation. Therefor, it seems impossible to get land too ricl with the best of all-stabl manures. Yet even in gardening, with several crops thorough, constant tillage will give as good or better results with less manure
 Please drop the idea that fruit tree' want manures, except on the most ster ile soils of this coast. The smallest soi on the Mohave desert. if free from aka Ii and other injurious matter, givel pure water in plenty and right climate will grow fruits than which none ar, better. ID. B. WEIR