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Show THE ALKALI LANDS OF UTAH. 1 I Y Dft. JOHN A. V7IDTE0Q, 9 I m What It Alkallf The grent fertlllt) of Utah soils Is tho Indirect cause of the alknll curse In an arid country, with scanty rainfall, not ennurh moisture foils ns n rule to soak through the soils nnd connect with th. countr) drainage nnd thus to wash tho soluble matters of the soil Into the oceun As a result the soluble substances sub-stances of ugrlculturol lands remain In Ihe suit nnd Increase with the jearn as the disintegration ut the soil particles continue The most gel era! definition of nlkull Is that It Is the water soluble t ortlon of tre soli These soluble roll constituents ure, with few exceptions, the most excellent plant foods nnd man) of then are lndlsi ensable to plint life However, when for any reason the soluble parts of the toll are concentrated concentra-ted near the surface their action upon lltttit roots and stems Is Injurious. llow Alkali Is Formed, In most Utah soils tin re Is un nbund anco of soluble suits but the c me us. uully so uniformly distributed through the lower la)ers us to bo harmless to plants hen Irrigation of such lands Is begun the upward man ment of the soil water, resulting from the evnporti. tlon nt the surface, brings the solublo raits to the surface, where the) are left as the water cvnporatos This explains the fact that the inujorlty of deep fer tile soils of this Stnte, If Irrigated In-cnutlousl), In-cnutlousl), will Dually become converted convert-ed Into alkali lands Hxcellent Ulustru-tlors Ulustru-tlors of this principle nre found In Ueur river nlle), where the alkali rises In a mild form after a few )cnrs of Irrl-gution Irrl-gution farming On certain of the low lands tho no-annul no-annul illon ot ntknll takes place In qulto a different manner Thu higher or be nch lands found In Utah are com-pa"ratlvely com-pa"ratlvely shillon, the depth vurjlng from six Inches to fifteen or twent) feet. Those who own thcee lands fre-eiuentl) fre-eiuentl) fall lo understand that lighter and more- frequent Irrigations should be given tin hi' shallow soils which there-lore, there-lore, arc often over-Irrigated, The result re-sult Is that the water souks through the soil and thi looso gruvell) or sandy sub-poll into the country drainage, and is nniill) aecumulnte-d under the surface sur-face of the bottom lands of the valley, ln Its passage through the poll the water carries with It the soluble materials that It encounters and so there Is a gradual nrcumulntlon In the bottom lands of the soluble material taken from tho uplands up-lands Hvnporatlon got-s on In the water-j water-j logged bottom soils with great npldlty land In n short time the lowlands become be-come heavily Impregnated with alknll. It Is nlso n well-known fact that the ;nnln Irrigation canals of this Stal elclrt the foothills und rest frequently on shallow soil The pecpngp from these cnnnls frequently nmounte to one-fourth or more of the total amount of wnter carried by them This pecpnge water also finds Its wny through the soil to the bottom of the valley and In Its descent de-scent carries with It large quantities of alknll dissolved In Its descent. Of the two methods of alkali formation forma-tion this Inst, depending upon seepage from canals or from Irrigation from higher lands, Is by far the most dnn-gerous dnn-gerous 1 ecnuso It frequently happens that In time n few square miles of low-1 low-1 inds may have concentrated in them the greater rortlon of the soluble salts nf the soil of a large valley. In most or the voile) s thit have been settled tor some time the damage has long since been done nnd the condition Ib not be. ing Improved by the present methods of farming Orent rtrotehen of rnph nlkn-llicsl nlkn-llicsl bottom binds trny bo found In Cache valley, In Fall Lnkn vnlley. In Utah vnlley, ln Sanpete isllev and Se. vler vnllp). In enrh of these districts nre great stretches of Intrinsically fer-tile fer-tile land that are now being abandoned becnuse of the alknll Utah Is not nlnne In this trouble. It Is found throughout western America, ns well ns In nil countries where Irrl-gnllon Irrl-gnllon hns been practiced In India nnd Ferynt under the direction of the officers of the Hrltlsh Oovernmcnt, more or I'-ss suec'-ssful ntterrpts have Tie en mnde to reclaim these vast stretches ot alkali lands. Composition of Alknll. In the nlVnll ns ordlnnrllv found In Utah three subtnnces prcdomlnnto Sodium So-dium sulphate or Olnuber's salt, sodium so-dium chloride or common salt, nnd so. dlum cnrlionnte or sal soda. Of thero three the solium sulptmto Is least dan-l-ernus nnd Interferes with plant rrnwth only when It Is present In very large quantities It Is the white Inrrulntlon on rtlsnll lands nnd known common) i.s white nlknll. From Investigations mnde bv this station some )enrs ngo It lins been detennlned that sodium chlo. ride or common "nit Is somen tint more Injurious to plnnts thnn Is the sodium Fulphnte; tn white nlknll a mixture of thee luo pnlts usually occurs The so. dlum carbonate Is th p,-qnlled blnck nlknll nnd Is n much more dnngerous luhstnnce Solium cnrlionnte- tends to puddle n poll nnd to cleetro) Its tilth so that plifnts nre not nble to grow. Tie. pldes, II hns n corro'lvp notion upon the plant tissues which Is shown In the blnck ring which girdles plnnts growing on such soils nn Inch or two above the roll. Chemical Antidotes. Farly In the history of the battle against alkali chemical means wero used to combat this plngue; but It was poon discovered that the white alkali cannot successfully be removed, or Its pctJon diminished by any cjirdlnar) chemical scents On the other hnnd It wns found thnt by adding ordinary land plnster to black alkali It would be converted con-verted Into the much less dangerous white variety. This discovery has been used extensively on the alkali lands of California nnd India nnd with the most lie netlclnl results Sllll the conversion of bluck nlknll Into the white variety only ameliorates the land, but does not cure It except when the quantity of the black nlkal Is so small thnt the corresponding corre-sponding quantity of white nlkall has no Injurious effect upon growing plants Alltnll ne3latant Plnnts. Another suggertlon that has met with considerable favor Is to grow upon alkali al-kali soils certain crops that have tho power of resisting the hirmful action of alkali, and of accumulating the soluble sails ln their leaves and stalks Such plants, If grown upon alkali toll and removed from It severnl years In succession, might removo a sufficient qunntlty to enable our other farm crops to thrive upon the soil thereafter. Among sueh plants have been mentioned men-tioned the ordlnnr) grease wood, with the numerous members of the family to which It belongs Of highest value has been found the Australian salt bush a plant which It la said takes up large quantities of alkali and at tho sime time produces an excellent forage tor farm animals Utah experimenters have had considerable difficult) ln get ting a good start of this riant, but lit w (uses wl eie n stand has been obtained, jjM It has dons well and does apt ear to lilm totscs a remarkable power In the way SB of resisting nlkall. Undoubtedly, as I time goes on nnd such crops bemms better undotstood many of the alkali ! lands nn) be partially reclaimed by I i thcli nuans For ordinary cropj tho I M 111 ilts of tolerance to alkali ar. very 1 , small. j Other Xstliods. I I It Is evident however, that neither of tht nethoia proposed nre very satis- jK factor) Cherilcnl treatment only . serves to convert the more dnnrerous iS nlksll Into b s a 1 irm'ul kinds and does M not touch the enuse of the trouble An alkali tolerant plnnt with the power of 1 tnklpg Into Its own structure largo V qunntttles of salts woull not success- m full) uvenome the trouhlc for even n K h)pothetlcal irop ) lei ling 10 000 pounds 1 of dr matter to the acre annually, ! I with 20 per cent mineral matter would ( B need over nineteen )eirs to remove tho P nlknll to the depth of ono foot from a ' soil rontilnlng 1 per cent ct soluble llr matter inch n rrop Is not known nt jPi the present sn that, with the best nl- f kail tolerant crop known nt the pres- ent the time required would be very a much great. r Thn common notion that I n heavy dressing of manure conquers 1 a nlknll Is fnllni lous, for It onl) enables ! H; the farmer to raise n rrop or two be- (if fore the nlknll hns time to rife through 11 the ln)or of manure To remove tho I nlkill b) flooding the land In also un- Bi sntlsfactor) for. though small quantl- ' H tlis ma) be rcmovid ln thnt way, the larger portion is Immediately washed s" back Into the poll where It remains B until nfter Ihe flooding when by enplt- E lar) nctlon, It rises to the surface again. S Drainage the Sure Curo. c The only reutly effective method of f, rcrlnlmlng nlknll lnnds Is to remove ft the soluble snlts from the soil This may be done In many cases, where tho j 3 soli Is of comparatively coarse textura fi or the location Is favorable, by making I 0 open, deep ditches ot different Inter- & vols In the field and soaking the soil H thoroughl). Quito a number of Utah Wl farms have been reclaimed from the al- I N kail scourge In this way. The better 'i way and In most cases the best man- I M ner of reclamation, Is to lay n system i H nf tile drains which, under the Influence all of heavy Irrigation, will carry off th W poluble nlkill of the roll. It Is urged V nrnlnst this method thnt It In very ex- ' p naive, and that the farmers of this I State cannot nfTord It, Considering, however, the value of nn ncre of Irrigated Irri-gated land and that the great majority of lands troubled with nlkall would bo i among the most valuable lands In the . State wc-e they reclaimed. It would ' seem tn le n wise Investment flnan- , daily, could they be reclaimed at a modernto cost. The expense of under-draining under-draining does not need to be excessively high Thero Is plenty of clay In this k State and should the demand tor tile 1 drains arise capital would gladly estab- j llsh tile factories wherever necessary. 1 ln fact, the nverare alkali lands of the Stnte could be drained nt nn expense ex-pense of from 110 to SIT per acre, with nn average cost ot perhaps 113 or tH per ncre There Is, of course, conpldernble hesitation hesi-tation nn the part of the farmers to I ; undertake draining, since they are not j certain from their own trials or from I those of their neighbors that tho meth- ' od will bo succcstful ln moving the ex- cess of alkali. I ' An Alkali Reclamation Experiment, I I In order to provo tho feasibility of i ,1 this method of reclaiming nlknll land, lhe bureau ot noils of the United States '( Department of agriculture nnd the Utah experiment station arc now co- op-mtlng In nn experiment whlrh has J for Its purpose a reclamation of a tract of alkali land In this State. The tract covers forty arres and Is located about four miles west of Bilt Lake City. Under Un-der the supervision of Mr W. H. Itelle- luan of the bureau ut soils, tile drains tJP were Installed on this plat last year and I ono heavy Irrlrntlon given the land In i I tho fall As soon ns spring opens the work will be tol en up ngaln The whole tract will be lrrlnited throughout the season tn order thnt the grentrst possible pos-sible amount nf nlknll can be washed out. and then the tract will be sown to uirrcrent crops, In order to test the tolerance tol-erance of these crops to nlkall In three or four yenrs It In believed that the tract will be perminently re- i claimed. Such land. In the neighborhood neighbor-hood of Snlt Lnke City, Is now worth about US per ncre; when reclaimed it rhould be worth from $100 to 1200 per acre. Ah a money-making Investment the tile draining of this nlkall tract Is i nil that can be desired The people of '. the State are watching carefully the operations connected with this experiment, experi-ment, nnd there Is no doubt, should It provo successful, that many of the lands of this State will be drained and the nlkall III that way removed from them J ' Drainage not only removes alkali from the land, but It puts It In a most (xccllint mechanical condition, and the probability Is that drained lowlands will yield heavier crops under our conditions con-ditions of irrigation than will the lowlands low-lands that are not drained, even I though they be free from nlkall. t During the whole of the coming season sea-son work will be done on the experl- i mental tract near Salt Iake City. Visitors Visi-tors to the city and all who may be Interested In-terested are cordially Invited to com. out nnd examine the work that Is being be-ing done there. The nlkall curse has blighted many f districts In the past, and at times It V hns seemed that to overcome It has n bien impossible Now, however, the conditions are such that we may safe- 9 ly believe that it Is only a matter of f a few short jenrs until all of the more valuable alkali lands of the State shall I have been reclaimed by tho only permanently per-manently cfftctlvo euro for alkali. One fact must bo emphasized, namely, name-ly, that when the alkali has once been I completely removed from the soil by drainage, It will require many genera- j tlons, ln most cases, before nnother nc- I cumulation occurs So that tho decoy J and destruction of tho drainage sys- 1 terns nfter some jears, where their J work has been iloni, is of llttla consequence. conse-quence. Need of Drainage Laws. ' In this connection another question of prime Importance to those who aro Interested In-terested In the alkali problems of thu j State must ba stated. At the present time there Is no drainage law that ' would enable a person to construct a I lira I mi ge s)stem on his own land with- i out. In all probiblllt), trespassing on the rights nf his neighbors if possl- I ble, the Legislature should pass a law i which will enable those who favor this method ot reclamation to proceed without with-out any loss of time |
