Show OFFICIAL SURVEY OF UTAH SOILS i iI I officIal Investigation I I Now that an and survey oC the soils of Utah has been undertaken by the Agrlcultuial department of tho United States It may be oC Interest to give some Idea I of this most Important move which Inaugurated In 1899 is now In progress In Utah under the direction of Prof I Gardiner of Washington In 1S99 his 0 work covered that portion of Salt Lake I valley lying north of the Traverse I mountains and west of the Jordan I river and extending to the Great Salt I lake I This soil examination Is one fraught with mote important results to our I agriculturists and farmers than most people have any Idea of Nearly everyone every-one has heard of the Inroads the alkali al-kali has made and Is making on sonic of our hitherto best farms and that are consequently being abandoned In a II I greater or less degree every year How I many know the causes and remedy These the United States scientists not I only show but taking a given region they delineate on their maps the character I char-acter and location of the different klnda of soils thereon shown In Varied colors I so that they are recognized at a glance Next the actual percentage of the soluble solu-ble salts Is given In figures on each tract so that the owner or wouldbe purchaser sees at once what the soil Is I capable of that Is what kind of I crops may or may not be grown thereon Ion I-on We are also shoWn the gradual areal encroachment of the alkaline and other salts that has been taking place so that Its cause can bo traced C Also do these maps show the depth below the I surface of the subsoil waters and the I remedy and direction of necessary I drainage at once can be determined 10 a I I The cause of detrimental soluble salts appearing in lands that at first and for many years have been among the choicest of farm lands Is duo to I two causes overIrrigation and lack oC sufficient drainage that Is placing on the land more water than the natural drainage will properly carry off hence I a rise In the soil water Evaporation Is going on at all times upon the sin face of the soil and water Is being drawn up by capillary attraction bringing with It the salts It may have dissolved These salts are left at the surface when the water evaporates and slowly a crust forms This accumulation accumula-tion of soluble matter finally becomes so great that no plant will grow on tho lap The land Is of necessity abandoned aban-doned In nearly every Irrigated district dis-trict of the arid West some of the lands tlrst irrigated the choicest of the lands have In this way become so Impregnated Impreg-nated with the salts that crops cannot grow There are thousands of acres of land In Utah formerly valuable property I prop-erty which today are abandoned Most frequently the cause arises from excess of Irrigation over natural drainage drain-age on lands lying above those where the salts finally appear but If we have the locality of the cause and the lines of drainage given us the remedy becomes be-comes simply a question of dollars and cents i Last week we had a short visit from Mr Milton Whitney chief of division I of soils of the Agricultural department Mr Whitney brought with him some of the advance sheets of the over Jordan survey nnd these are gotten up In a style that requires them to be I seen to adequately Show their Importance I Import-ance While the report of last seasons work has been printed another month I will probably elapse before the maps are completed It should be here mentioned that Prof Gardiner has had the cooperation of I the Utah Experiment station under Mr Luther Foster and Prof Stewart I chemist of the station was an associate asso-ciate in last years Investigations Mr Milton Whitney Is sincerely desirous de-sirous of continuing the survey yearly in Utah until the whole arable part of Utah are covered The Secretary of Agriculture will recommend that Congress Con-gress appropriate WOOD annually for the survey In Utah and In view of Its vast Importance to our State hopes that our Representative and Senators I will advocate his views With this sum SOO square miles can be yearly surveyed and mapped Surely I wo should do all In our power to further so good and Important work I |