Imperial press and farmer., 1902-02-15
laboratory fsrminp.

Fi0t hnitfpflft pubNthte tht inlloMlnk odporial regarding alkali lands in lm. penal and the experts soil report about imperial lands in particular
 The report of "a government chemist un tho soil of Imperial has occasionCd rather more excitement. it seems Go the Enterprise. than tho matter war. rants The position ot Professor Milton Whitney. who made the rc. port. as chief of the bureau of soils Of the government agricultural de- partmcnt. must give weight Go his statement. stun we of Southern Cal. ifornia are practical people. and wc have learned to count more upon results than upon the laboratory farming of any scientist. no matter how eminent
 Most of the land of Southern Cali. fornia now under cultivation. was originally desert land and a good portion of t more or less alkaline. siin the returns from the land here obtained challenge comparison with those of any other part of the United States
 \ former member of the Imperial Land Company in replying io the re- port of Professor Whitney makes some statements. the force of which will be recognized by the people who have grown up and grown rich in this desert country and who know. There is some foundation. in fact. he says for the statements made by the government expert as 60 the presence of alkali As a rule. desert lands everywhere have more or less of the constituent elements of alEat in their structure. and this fact ac- counts for their great fertility as com pared with lands tn the eastern or middle portion of our continent
 A large number of samples accord. ing to approved methods have been analyzsd and found 10 contain chlor' ide ot sodium. cArbonates. sulphaies and phusphates In varying pTopor- fionS. and in some instances beyond the tolerance of most desirable cul- tures Al the same time. a majority of the samples indicated soil of sur passing fertility. adapted 10 the growth of wheat and the farm prod ucts. both desirable and profitable This. together with practical tests on this and other similar lands. leads me to conclude that al least T5 per cent of the land under consideration IS desirable and will in a few years be much sought after"
 Then follows 8 statement which is really the pith of the whole thing. ~I will undertake" he says. ito carry as many steers on ls0 acres of land In the Imperial country as our expert can carry on 4S0 acres of land In H. inois. and he may make his selection with his eyes wide open and l will select my land blindfolded. The San Joaquin Valley of this State. the Salt River Valley of Arizona. and the Pecos Valley Of New Mexico would never have been settled and culu- vated if expert opinions Of this class had first been sought
 The adapiability of the Imperial soil to different crops will have to be demonstrated by practical expeTi- ments. as. indeed. has been the rule with every colony in Southrn Cali fornia. but it is tendeTfoOt nonsense to declare that the land Is worthless for all agricultural purposes Sor- ghum fifteen feet high gives such statements the lie.
 Again. il should be borne in mind that DO claims have been made for the Imperial country as a horticul- tursl section. 1T it were orange land It would be worth from three to five hundred dollars an acre instead of