The San Francisco call., 1897-11-18
Peculiar Humid Conditions
in the Arid Regions of
the Desert.
PLACES WHERE CROPS
GROW WITHOUT RAIN.
Water Waves of the Earth Accu-
rat<ly Determined by the Use
of Electrodes.
Special Dispatch TO THE CALL
CALL OFFICE. R1GGs HOUSE


WASHINGTON, ID. c., Nov. II.
The div:sion of soils OF the Agricult-
ural Department, W hich was established
a couple of years ago. is conducting some
of the most interesting experiments of the
department.. Professor Milton Whitney,
who is in charge of the division, is en-
gagged al present in the inyestig alton of the
climatic conditions of moisture and tenn
perature in their relation to the local distri-
button of crops. The work has scope as
broad as the country. 1t will eventually
embrace all the soils and staple crops, and
in It's relation to the future OF the coun-
Try, when crops must be specialized under
the intensified system OF agriculture
which must come to our farmers in few
years, 1t promises to be of the utmost eco
nomic and practical value. Its practical
utility will be the determination o: the
normal water contents OF The differen
soiis in various portions of the country.
their capacity for the absorption and re-
tention OF moisture, with the amount of
moisture required by different crops, to-
gether with methods for ascertaining the
point which lack OF moisture would en-
uanger crops and the most feasible
methods of irrigation.
The investigation of the Western soils,
made with the aid Of the Weather Bureau,
which covers Lower California, The San
Joaquin Valley and the great Palouse dis
trict, com prising the fertile wheat-grow-
ing districts OF California, Washington
and Montana the Yellowstone Valley
the Red River Valley and also the Mojave
and Nevada deserts, have developed some
most astounding facts and some which
the Department OF Agriculture is not yet
able to explain.
Professor Whitney says the history of
these soils will make the most remarkable
chapter IN the history OF the worlds agrI-
culture. Although these soils, excepting
the Red River and desert districts men
toned, have from one-hfth to one-half the
annual rainfall received by the territory
east OF the Mississippi River Chat is, from
seven 10 twenty inchesl they seldom,
il ever, suffer. from drought. Moreover,
practically all the rainfall they d O receive
comes in the fall and winter seasons.
Only a slight fraction falls during the
summer months when the crops are grow
ing, yet the crops DO not suffer.
soils has shown that they are largely made
up OF the dsntegration of the original
basatic rock and that there is little differ
ence between the soils and subsoils, q
difference very marked in the East. They
have remarkable power for absorption
of m DISTURB and do not really lose it by
evaporation, although the humidity of
the atmosphere during he growing sea-
son is much lower than in the East.
Thus the crops, by subsisting on the
winter rains, can stand long periods of
drought.
In the San Joaquin Valley, the grape.
growing region oil California, the annual
rainfall is but seven inches, and from May
10 Septem ber only about slx-ten;hs of an
inch falls yet The vines hurish through
out the season. 1t is true, they are irri-
gated by canals, but the moisture is j.
sorbed and transmitted by the soils.
There is no surface application of water
In Southern California the winter rain
fall is about sixteen inches; the summer
rainfall less than one inch; and without
irrigation tobacco and other crops grow
luxurl antly. At Chino, in this dIstrict,
sugar beets, which require great amount
OF moisture, grow famously. The surface
soil dries out in the summer, forming a
dry crust or mulch, which seems to pro-
tect the soil beneath. In the districts
about Merced Walla Walla, Bozeman
and Pullman, termed the Palouse dis
trict, the annual rainfall varies from ten
TO twenty inches, In which from one to
ten inches fail during the season of the
growing crops; yet, owing to The wonder
full power of the soil TO retain water and
supply II to the crops a drought of
months i less injurious there than one of
the same number of weeks in the East,
where the annual rainfall is about iorty
inches.
In the Moiave and Nevada deserts the
annual rainfall averages a bout five inches
but beneath the aIkali crusts the soil is
always moist, a fact which the scientists
have as yet been unable 10 explain. In
fact, little is known of the DOW of the
soils TO hold water. As artesian wells
show water in all these districts from 40
to 200 feet below the surface it Is consid-
cred possible that there is 4 slow and con-
tinuous movement OF water upward from
tbs artesian sources which are beyond the
influence Of the local climate. This is
especially believed 10 be true OF the des-
ert districts, where the mois ure of the
soil nnot be explained on the theory
that the soil could retain the mos ture
from the insig nihcant rainfall By placing
electrodes II the soil in all these places at
various depths. from a few inches to
twenty-five feet, II is believed that in the
future the direction and intensity of what
m ght be termed the water waves of the
earth can be accurately determined. 80.
The use OF the electrodes for determin-
ing The moisture of the earth has been
quite extensively employed in the East
and with very satisfactory results. The
principle made use of is the resistance al
forded by the earth at different depths 10
the passage OF an alternating current of
electricity. If The earth is psolutely drv
of course the resistance would be TOO
great for the passage of the current. As
the moisture increases, water being per-
feet conductor, the resistance decrease
In trnck-fa rming and garden work, where
cultivation is intense, it is believed that
the use OF these electrodes, which require
but two or three ordinary cells for their
operation, can be made with great profit
by those who are at all scientific in their
methods.