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Title: Report on the Agriculture Experiment Stations of the University of California (PH 4-16)(1890) Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Pamphlets Catalog #: PH 4-16 Author: E.W. Hillgard Published: 1890 # of Pages: 211 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

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SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY STATION. 143 natural result of the retention of the alkaline water above the hardpan layer, and its re-ascent, with all its salts, so soon as evaporation sets in. The hardpan areas are generally basin-shaped; with the rise of the irrigaton water, the latter, with the salts it has leached out of the substrata of the soil, will come in around the edges or through the cracks of the hardpan mass, and, remaining there despite of drains, will bring an increasing «mount of alkali to the surface each successive year, until spots of a few “quare yards grow into many acres, and finally become a serious menace to the welfare of the trees and vines. The obvious remedy in such cases is to make the drainage ditches deep enough to cut through the hardpan, and to knock so many holes into the latter as to facilitate drainage to the necessary extent. . It may be objected that this is too costly; and probably there are cases ’n which this will be so. It then behooves the owner to consider the choice between a change of location, and the adoption of other crops and repression of the alkali by careful cultivation and the use of gypsum, as set orth in the pamphlet on the subject heretofore published by this department. But the time is not far distant when in California, as well as in Illinois and in the East generally, the laying of underdrains will be considered an excellent investment on any land as valuable as all irrigated land is likely to be; and when that day comes, “alkali” will be at an end on irrigated lands in this State. 3 ate In tabular form are given the results of a number of examinations of alkali soils made within the present year, as well as some of earlier date and heretofore published, which illustrate well the variability of the composition of the soluble salts within short distances. Thus, within the tenacte limits of Miss Austin’s place in Central Colony, Fresno, we have two Samples of quite different composition; one (No. 1) of the “ white,” the other of the “black ” type, viz.: consisting chiefly of carbonate of soda. In the next three columns we find the alkali of the “white” type, while again, that from the Emigrant Ditch is very “black,” and is almost free from Glauber’s salt. In Tulare County carbonate of soda is quite generally present in large proportion, doubtless in consequence of the more general prevalence of heavy soils rich in vegetable matter, which promotes the formation of the carbonate. Yet while (according to former observations not recorded here) this is true of the alkali of the Mussel Slough country nearest the streams, the alkali around Hanford is (or was in 1880) almost exclusively of the “white” type. While the water of Tulare Lake, 4s shown in a former bulletin, is rich in the carbonate, extensive tracts south of the lake, and which were doubtless covered by its waters at a time not very remote (Smyrna neighborhood, in Townships 25 and 26, Range 23), prove to contain mere traces of that substance in their alkali, and do not require the use of gypsum. (See table, pages 146-148.) ‘ _lt is interesting to compare with each other, respectively, the composition of surface alkali and well water at the experiment station, and on the other hand, the alkali of Tulare Lake water, with that of its ancient and modern alluvium; also, the two groups with each other. In all, the amount of potash salts remains within the units, running from 3.25 to 6.38 percent. In contrast to this, the sodium carbonate is extremely variable, running from 20 to over 70 percent. This is readily explained on the basis of the observations recorded in the “Report on Waters and Water Sup ly,” issued by this station some time ago (see pages 51 to 57 of that pub ication). It is there shown that the other sodium salts, notably the sulphate and chloride, are subject to continual changes under the joint influence of lime carbonate and carbonic acid in varying proportions and