Tombstone epitaph., 1918-12-15
SOME FACTS OF
 AlkALi IN ARIZONA
By C. ]. King
By C. ]. King, eiophysieai investigations. U. S. De- rartment of Agriculture

1 rartment of Agriculture
 | A number of inquiries have come to
 this office with regard to the possibili- ties of utilizing. temporarily. some of
 the land that has been laid waste by
 the rising water table and its inspera
 b,e ally. noxious salts. IL has been
 estimated that there are nearly 50,O00 acres in the valley in this condition,
 times the most productive under the
 project. While great hopes are being
 entertained for the reclamation Of
 these tracts through the pumping pro-
 ject now under way, the owners are
 much interested in having it produce
 exigency when every acre is needed
 for production of food for the allies.
 The first remedy that the agricul-
 tural expert thinks of when alkai
 lands are mentioned, is gypsum. The
 late Dr. Eilgard of the California eX-
 perimental station, many years ago
 recommended gypsum for this pur-
 pose and w....hhou: doubt it has been
 q great boon to many western farm
 CTS In many cases, though. it has
 proved disappointment. IL was these
 failures which led member of this of-
 fee to undertake investigations with
 regard to the reactions which occur
 in the soil when black alkali' is formed and the reactions which oc-
 eur when gypsum is applied.
 l. was found that when black al kali" Sodium carbonate) is formed iron, the action of calcium carbonate
 on the sodium nitrate or the sodium chloride of the soil, gypsum may be
 used as remedy to convert the so- . dium carbonate into a sulphate which : is white aikali" and less harmful to
 plants. However, if the black alkali is being formed from sodium sulpha,e 2 tGlaubers' sab by the reaction with ) calcium carbonate. or if the sodium
 sulphaie is present either in the soil in company with other white alkali
 sal:s. or in the water. then gypsum is one of the products formed from the
 reaction. and neither this, nor any amount that the farmer might add will
 be effective il checking the formation of the black alkaIi' Conditions here in the valley are ideal for this last
 reaction. for it takes place most read fly when the land is swampei by ex-
 cessive irrigations or by the rise of sub-water. Some samples taken re-
 gently from some of these areas show that the sulphates are present in
 v sells would doubtless be a waste of
 money This fact does not prejudice the writer against the use of gypsum altogether, for it is very probable , that in other places the black alkali
 is being formed from common salt or
 from sodium nitrate.
 The method that is most commonly pract;ced in the valley at present for , removing harmful salts from the soil surface is in teaching them out of the first foot or two by surface flooding. While on first impression this would seem to be bad medicine, in that the chief cause of the trouble is being used as a remedy, yet such practice appears to Le the most feasible of any that the farmer can perform While he salts are certain to come back in
 time, the seeds are given an oppor- : tunity to gerbinate and grow from a delicate into a more hardy existence. : This plant is especially efficient in the case of alfalfa. since the older plants can tolerate four times as much al kali as the young seedlings. For this reason, old alfalfa growing on such soils, if producing anything wor. h cutting, should never be ploughed up to experiment with another planting. Its age and it's shade are its chief pro- lection.
 One unproductive field in the valley
 showed a content of over per cent
 common salt in the surface three inches. while at lower depths it did
 not exist in harmful amounts. Such
 a condition might be helped in some
 degree by scraping off the surface.