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Collection: Directories and Documents > Pamphlets
Report on the Agriculture Experiment Stations of the University of California (PH 4-16)(1890) (211 pages)
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Page: of 211
FOOTHILL STATION. 63
The kind of explosive to be used with the greatest advantage will naturally vary from place to place, with the nature of the hardpan, and will
have to be ascertained by trial, which could best be made before the rains
setin. But in view of the fact that the substratum of the “ bedrock lands”
is shown to be actually richer in plant food than the surface soil; that
while in its natural condition it not only obstructs the passage of the roots
mechanically, but also injures them by the formation of poisonous solutions in consequence of the stagnation of water, all of which can be
relieved by the shattering of the substratum by means of judicious blasting, also giving the roots access to abundant moisture; it would certainly
seem that in favorable locations, where land is valuable, this mode of rendering it available for fruit culture deserves most earnest consideration.
Neither the adobe nor the ‘“‘bedrock” should be used in the filling up of
holes after planting, any more than a raw subsoil should be turned on the
surface in other cases. But with the access of air and water to the shattered portion, the substrata will gradually go through the processes of soil
formation; and their plant food will doubtless become available fast enough
to insure the welfare and productiveness of an orchard for the usual period.
The “gravel plains” soil from the Galt neighborhood differs pointedly
from those of the Florin region in the nature of its substrata, none of which
are quite as clayey or impervious as in the bedrock lands, although, as it
appears, a heavy deposit of red clay replaces the sandy strata said to
underlie the “ Bedrool ” in the latter. No heroic measures are called for
in the gravel plains to render the substrata penetrable to roots; deep cultivation would probably accomplish most of the improvement needed in the
mechanical condition of the land, and underdrains would relieve all trouble.
Chemically the gravel plains soil suffers from a deficiency of lime, as well
as from a low supply of phosphoric acid, though much of the latter is in a
soluble condition, and with the good supply of potash explains the growing
of good crops in favorable seasons. Liming would probably be the best
paying mode of fertilization in these lands at the present time, and the
turning in of green crops should serve to increase the very small proportion
of humus. Until this is done small dressings of Chili saltpeter would
doubtless be beneficial.
The Merced soil, while of commendable physical qualities, and endowed
with fair proportions of lime and potash, is conspicuously deficient in phosphoric acid, so as to render it certain that phosphate fertilizers will be the
first thing needed when the first productiveness is exhausted. Its supply
of humus is also very low, a defect which should be treated as in the preceding case, by green manuring and the use of nitrate of soda when production slackens.
SECTIONS ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS.
Butte County Section.—While a number of soils from the valley portion
of Butte have been examined and reported upon heretofore (see “ Report
of the College of Agriculture for 1882,” page 20), the only soils from the
foothill portion of the county thus far investigated are from the neighborhood of Oroville, notably from the lands that, at Thermalito Colony and
elsewhere, have been devoted to the culture of citrus fruits. Two sets of
soils were received from the neighborhood: one from S. S. Boynton, then
editor of the Oroville “ Register,” and the other from Senator A. F. Jones.
The town of Oroville is situated near the point where Feather River
emerges from the foothills proper into the plain, with a sharp turn to southward. On its right, or western, bank the river runs at the foot of a bluff,
which, opposite Oroville, is from sixty to seventy-five feet above the river