The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1905-05-15
HORTICULTURE
F. WALDEN

disadvantages. Under the latter head
may be classed alkali. Occasionally
where irrigation is practiced we find
some sections where the soil is ruined
by alkali. What can be done in such
cases? The writer does not presume
to be an authority on alkali matters,
but, having studied it to considerable
extent, he can offer some suggestions
that may be of value. 1t is well known
that where irrigation is practiced
alkali will appear where its presence
had not been suspected. Why is this
so? The answer to this is that the
alkali was there in the soil all the
time but the use of water in irrigation
brought it to the surface. The gov
eminent experts in their inyestiga-
lions of the contents of soils have
shown that certain salts are more
abundant in arid regions than in those
sections of our country where rains
are abundant The copious rains tend
to leach out the soils. The elements
of fertility are washed away as we'll
as some salts not SO much needed in
plant growth. So it is shown to be
fact that soils that need irrigation are
richer than those that do not.
arid regions is soda. This salt does
not occur in sufficient quantities to do
any harm unless something causes it
to be congested in some locality. When
the water used in irrigation strikes
hard pan it will be forced to the sur
face on the lower ground. This rising
of the water to the surface brings the
sodium to the surface. The water
eyaporates and leaves the sodium i'll
such quantities that it destroys vege-
tation. Here we learn an important
fact, that can be turned to good ac-
count in getting rid Of this trouble
some salt, commonly called alkall;
namely, it can be moved through the
soil by the use of water. Hence, we
must get some way to move it down
and out of the soil. Water will do
this if we can cause it to move down
and out. This can only be done by
under draining The first step in get
ting rid of alkali is to underdrain the
ground Then by flooding the surface
the all1ali will be washed down into
the drains and out into the sewers:
This process will "cure" the soil OF
alkali.
But here we will meet with a DIM
Guilty. one Klnd Oh dlhdH WIZ "o0Ai
out and one will not. Any one who
has paid any attention to alkali knows
that one kind is white and one is
black. The black alkali is the car
Donate of soda and the white is the
sulphate of soda. Now the carbonate
of soda is not naturally black as any
housewife Knows, for her cooking soda
is the carbonate, usually the bicarbo-
nate. of soda and that means the
double carbonate of soda. What makes
it black is that the soda combines win
the humus, that is, decayed vegetation,
in the soil and that turns it black.
This black alkali. SO compacts the SOIL
that water won't go through 1t to any
considerable extent. The white alkal
(sulphate of soda), however, leaves
the soil lose and water will readily
pass through it. So on well drained
land we can wash out the white alkall
hut not the black. But it does not
follow that we can not get rid OF the
black alkali. Our soil chemists tell us
that by mixing gypsum, commonly call
ed land plaster, with the soil contain
ing black alkali it turns into the white
kin1 and then can be washed away
Gypsum is the sulphate of lime ana
obon,;oo1v combining with the car