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Show TREATMEHT OF DELTA LANOS Prof. Merrill Tells How the Delta Farmer Can Overcome Alkali and Conserve Moisture. To one familiar with the soils of the Delta tract, It Is very evident that greater precautions must be taken In order to render the lands safely and permanently productive than In many other sections of the Slate. There is a quite wide variation in the character of the soils, but In the main thete soils contain a very high percentage of sodium chloride, sodium sulphate, and In some Instances, sodium carbonate. car-bonate. Wherever the sodium carbonate, carbon-ate, or black alkali, Is found the condition con-dition can be overcome by the use of gypsum, which is easily obtained In the near vicinity of Delta. The gypsum gyp-sum simply converts the black alkali, which Is Insoluble In water, Into white alkali, and this, In turn, can be removed re-moved by proper method. The writer writ-er feels that the farmera of the tract should be on their guard ag.ilnat the excessive accumulation of these salts, and Is for that reason Insisting on method which have In the past proved prov-ed to be effective In reclaiming land of this character. . '.- 'C' It must not be forgotten that notwithstanding not-withstanding the fact that we have these salts present In the soil, that there Is audi an abundance of plant food that the soils are fertile and productive. pro-ductive. In relation to the alkali question. It must be borne In mind that Dr. I III gard, for many years director of the California experiment station, mote than twenty years ago now suggested methods of controlling the accumulation accumula-tion of alkali at the surface, such as mulching, tillage and proper drainage, and it is our contention that with the adoption of these methods the alkali in soils of the Delta tract will not be harmful, but on the contrary, may p'ove a lilesalug In disguise. From a number of analyses made of this soil. It is apparent that wherever wher-ever the white alkalies, sodium cblor Ide and sodium sulphate occur la large rusntltles In this section, there is alsc a very high percentage of gypsum and this seems to exert a very favor able effect on the alkali content In such a wsy that maximum crops ,ar grown. I ( The mo4 essentlul thing In the con trolling of the Injury aure to result I the alkali accumulates on the aur face Is the conservative and llmltet use of Irrigation wster by the farm ers. One reason whv the farmera fee that they must have more water la be cause of the apparent dryness of thi soil. Because of the rapid evaporatlor of water, soil on the rurface dries hakes and cracks; but many of tlseai polls, while dry on the surface for i Yew Inches, are saturated with moist 'lire below. As soon as the soil be ' comes baked the evaporation of wa ter Is much more rapid than If thi soil does not have a crust. The argument is ofttlmes used thai It Is Impossible to create a dust mulch on the surface of these lands becausi of their peculiar physical qualities Years ago when the writer was work In with farmera In Sanpete county this story was oft repeated, but latel they came to a realization of the fact that It Is possible to harrow gralr crops. The same story was heard oul on the Uintah reservation until Mr. L M. Winsor, of the Extension Dlvlsloi of the College demonstrated to thi satisfaction of the farmers that these soils could be mulched and that they could get along with a great deal less Irrigation water than they had been accustomed to. For the sake of the permanent development of the Delta lauds, It Is essential that the farmers come to the method of soil moisture conservation there that Is practiced by the farmera of Southern California. As an Illustration of how much moisture moist-ure Is lost, the writer has seen In the Delta tract many farmers plowing their land and leaving this land for weeks unharrowed. The most conxer-vatlve conxer-vatlve users of water always harrow their ground Immediately arter plowing. plow-ing. The writer Is acquainted with many farmers who would not think of leaving the land plowed In the lore-noon lore-noon unharrowed until afternoon. Twice a day the team Is detached from the plow and hitched to the harrow, si that the moisture In the solU Is retained re-tained by the mulch made. We want to reaffirm the statement made before that until these lessons of harrowing harrow-ing and repeated harrowing are learn-eJ learn-eJ thoroughly,, that difficulty will be encountered In conserving the moisture moist-ure In the best possible way. The writer recognizes the fact that the aolla are sadly deficient In or- ganic matter. We want to make an , effort just as soon aa possible to get these lands Into a better mechanical and chemical condition by getting or-' or-' ganlc matter Incorporated Into the 1 soils. The long stubble plowed under Is a step towards this end; barnyard ' manure assists, but a crop of oats ' and vetch plowed under Just prior to ' the time that It begins to form seeds 1 would accomplish wonders, tfweet clover or alfalfa, both Ideal crops for Millard county, are Ideal crops for green manure. The writer, however, fully appreciates the difficulty in a new section that farmera will encounter encoun-ter where the need of feed for livestock live-stock Is so great. The plowing under of these valuable cropa would reault. however, in getting the soil In excellent excel-lent physical condition. The writer does not contend, snd In fact, does not believe, that dry farming farm-ing would be a profitable practice In the Delta section, but he does insist that the wise and prudent farmer will study the principles of dry farming and apply them to his Irrigated farm LOUIS A. MERRILL, ' Agricultural Expert. Salt Lake Route, |