El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-06
COMPARATIVE freedom fro

- COMPARATIVE freedom from al
kali either white or black, in
~ the soil or water of the Mimbres
valley is one Of the distinguishing fea-
lures of this fortunate region There is
practically no desert soil which does
not contain some alkalis, and there are
few desert regions which do not con-
tain alkalis in damaging quantities,
but there is practically none IN the
Mimbres valley. Where salts and
-alkalis occur in water used for irriga-
ton, the utmost care has TO be used IN
order to grow anything at all, and from
lime TO time expensive leachlng must
be lone In regions Of poor drainage
facilities, this is almost impOssi BILE In
the Oued river country IN eastern
Algeria, the Arab farmers have learned
much better than American farmers
how to handle alkali conditions and
some vegetables successfully grown
there, are considered sensitive 10 al
kali, but are irrigated with water con-
tanning in some instances as much as
500 parts soluble salts to 100, 600 parts
OF water, sometimes as high as 80 per-
cent Of the salts being sodium chloride
The limit Of concentration for irri-
cation water in the United States, even
where only the most resistant field
crops are grown, has been placed by
some authorities at 80 parts sodium
chloride common Sal) or sodium car
Donate (black alkalil, and at from 40
10 300 parts of the less harmful salts,
per 100, 600 Of water.
As is well known from dozens of diff
ferenC chemical tests made Of MimbreS
valley water by eminent scientists that
II is the purest water in America, 1t is
not saline or alkaline and contains a
very small percentage Of solids. It is
the ideal water for irrigation.
Rex. E Willard. soil physicist Of the
New Mexico Agricultural and Mechan-
zeal college. has been employed by a
number Of farmers 10 make analyses of
soil of the Mimbres. Mr.. Willard has,
consequently had occasion TO examine
the Min bres valley soils very carefully,
and took occasion to say when on the
work of examination, that he failed to
IND any trace OF black alkah in that
section Of country comprised under the
name OF Mimbres valley, and there was
very little white alkaH, which is less
injurious and more or less negligible !
when found in quantities even much
larger than may be found in spots !
around Deming.
Mr.. Wizards report on a tract of /
land two miles northeast OF Carne is /
as follows:
The type of soil of greatest extent /
on this tract consists of a heavy loan 1
to a clay loan of chocolate or choco- 4
late brown color to a depth of "a inches i
IN some cases but more generally this /
character of soil continues to greater 1
depths. In the western part of the 4
tract there is occasionally a layer of 4
soil at from 20 to so inches which con- (
t3lnS a large amount of calcareOus ma :
terial, but the area in which this cal I
careOus material is found is limited in
extent This is the material which IS (
commonly spoken of as caIiche. An .
analysis was made OF this material 4
and aside from the elements which .
make up ordinary soils, a very high /
percentage of lime was found. There /
were no injurious alkalis which give 4
rise frequently to tie fear of this
condition.
The great body OF lnis type of soil /
consists of a heavy loan or clay loan 4
which sometimes contains a consider !
able amount of silt The surface ma I
terial Oftentimes contains a greater \
percentage Of silt but the deeper sub |
soil generally becomes heavier being a /
clay loan or clay to depth of more 4
than five feet. There are occasionally /
notified spots of calcareOUs material !
in this deeper sUbsoiE but in no case /
IS there found sufficient lime to give |
any uneasiness of this type of soil
1.-The surface Of this type is generally (
level and it supports an excellent I
growth Of prairie grass or grama grass.
This vegetation is often times a better
chemical analysis than any that can be
made, for it indicates a fertile soil and
any alkalis
The lighter type Of soil represented