Show ALKALI LAND RECLAMATION I II I One of tho most important papers read at tile Irrigation Congress was the I one read yesterday by Mr Thomas II Mears of the U S Department of Agriculture Agri-culture on the reclamation oC nlkall lands These alkali lands are of two kinds those which naturally are permeated per-meated with alkali and those upon which alkali I has been carried by the I washings 1 and seepage from irrigation I Jn either case the remedy Is the same drainage and Hooding Mr Mears told of the processes employed em-ployed under the auspices of the Department De-partment of Agriculture by the Bureau of Soils Drainage in connection with agriculture he said has not been practiced l prac-ticed In America but stations have been established by the Bureau at which practical experiments are being made with results that so far clearly show that the large areas of alkali land in the Vest can be reclaimed at a coat far below the actual increase in the value val-ue of the land and that those lands Injured In-jured by seepage water can be returned to fertility and the danger of rise of alkali al-kali in them entirely obviated These arc the main points In the problem prob-lem the leaching out of the alkali at a cost which will be economically a sound proposition and the certainty that the alkali will slay eliminated These two points assured the owners of the land can proceed under the methods laid down by the Bureau of Soils This Bureau Bu-reau is devoting ttjo greatest and most detailed attention to this whole subject and strives lo put the farmers in possession posses-sion of the facts ascertained as soon as possible And a world of cheer is contained con-tained In Mr Mearss summing up that The results so far obtained clearly 1 clear-ly I indicate the value of drainage in irrigated land and it is thought that the time will soon come when drainage will be as common and as well known in the irrigated districts where land Is very valuable as are the tiledrained fields of the middle Vcst where values seldom exceed 5100 per acre |