The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-04-29
RESULT OF ExPERlENT MADE BY
GOVERNMENT.
TRAPHAGEN THEORY GOOD
Subdrainage and Flooding Demonstrate
ed to Be Effective Method Of Re-
moving Excessive Salts.

A bulletin just issued by the agri-
cultural department deals with a sub
ject of interest and Importance to
about every one engaged in the pro
duction of crops in the west who is
dependent upon irrigation for his sup
ply of water. The matter treated OF
is the rise of alkali in irrigated lands,
and the results are given of expert
ments made in the way Of under drain
age, the method Of freeing land of
the salts that was advocated by Pro-
lessor Traphagen; when he was one
of the faculty of the state agricul-
tural college.
Following are some extracts from
the bulletin considered interesting to
local ir%rigators:
"The rise of alkali has been one OF
the most threatening and least under
stood of the problems confronting
the irrigation farmer. There are areas
in the west where land has been rem
dered unfit for crops after having been
cultivated for over 20 years. Land
which once sold for $500 an acre is
row practically worthless. How to
prevent the rise of alkali in areas not
yet damaged and how to reclaim those
which have been injured is a question
the answer to which is eagerly sought.
First Results of Irrigation.
when the land is first irrigated
the water dissolves the salts and car
ries them downward. With continued
irrigation, however, the subsoil be-
comes filled with water and unless
there be an adequate underground
water movement the water table Of
the locality rises. When it rises with
in three to six feet of the surface, the
depth depending mainly on the texture
OF the soil, the capillary power of the
soil grains and the organic matter in
the soil draw the water to the surface
much as Oil rises in a wick. Here it is
e%vaporated and the salt contents is
left behind.
This process soon results in an &C.
emulation of alkali in the surface
soil and vegetation is injured or de-
stroyed. Many attempts have been
made to free land from alkali by the
application of gypsum, stable manure
and other substances, or by washing
out the salts by flooding the land and
quickly draining the water off the
surface. None of these has proved
of any permanent benefit to the land
after careful investigation the bu
reau became convinced that the only
way permanently to reclaim alkal
land is by Understandings and flooding
This conviction was strengthened
when the bureaus expert in alkal
land reclamation made a trip to Egypr
and Algeria during the summer o
1902 and investigated the work being
done there by English and Frencl
engineers. In the lower Nile vale,
they are retaining land SO salt tina
it contains $50 tons of salt per acr,
to a depth of three feete.
Vast Area Available.
'The reclamation of alkali land b,
undertakings and flooding is purel,
a mechanical process. The drain
carry off the underground water a
fast as it rises and thus break tn,
connection between the water tabl
and the soil surface. The focdin.
dissolves the salt in the layer of sol
above the drains and carries it dow.
and out through the drains.
I'm order to demonstrate the eff
LEV ron q At