UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. • MRICUaURAL EXIERIMENT STATION. BUI.I.ETIN NO. 23. -n^« Ai«-rvir^;i« n^,,«fxx tt;«« , thou^^h there are tracts where it is whitish and Exammatians of Alameda County Vine- p«re gravel beneath. Along the yard Soils, sidts of the valley there is usually more or less jof terrace or bench lands, having a sandy loam r, . r. 77 11 T 1 .Li- J. soil free from gravel, and changing but little for Soi 8 from Livermore Valley. — In order that 5 g i^^.^ r, 7 00 the position of the following soils may be under- it is in the rolling lands, in which the coast , stood, the general features of Livermore valley winds are much less felt than in the open valley j must ba defined to some extent, the more as ?^ ^^^^ planting of grape vines ^, . ^^ ■ c A. • • i. • has chittiy been undertaken, and so far with this valley IS fast coming into prommence as a . flattering results. In the table below, viticultural district as well as for its cereal jNos. 692, G93, and 694 represent the two chief crops, jvaritti s of the ro' Hi} g lands, the samples hav- Livermore valley is about 14 miles long, east mg be:in taken by Col. Geo. E. Edwards of the , ^- ^^.1^., University, and analyzed for him by Mr. Geo. K. and west, from five to eight miles wide, and is Colly; the results are given here by his courte- surrounded by rolling foothills and mountains, sy. Tne land from which they are taken lies from which other small valleys open into it. about a mile west of Livermore town, and is The northern and eastern part of its surface is ^^^1^ representative of the best class of upland , . 1 T . . in the region, a plain, the southern and western part a region (j^cj ^3 from the lower portion of the tract of rolling hills, and all is dotted over with oak owned by Mr. Chas. A. Wetniore, at the OJo trees, and watered by numsrous streams, tim- t^^^ Monte, a basin- like expansion of the cany cm bered with sycamore, and tributary to Alameda J"^* P^'^ to its emergence into the open land.s, *^ , and w ell protected from cold winds on all sides, creek, which flows westward into the bay of San jy^^ alluvial terrace from which the sample was Francisco through a canyon in the Coast Range, taken was covered with a heavy growth of brush The soil of the eastern valley plain is dun-cul- aiid tall weeds, with some large sycamores. It , ... 1 11 1 T -1 ^(^.^,. IS a whitish silt with some tangible sand inter- ored, with a pale yellow loam sub sod; often ^.^^^^ ^^^^ ^.^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^.^^^^ gravelly, more e3p3cially n^iar the water- character for several feet; sample taken to the courses, the bads of which in summer ap- dtpth of twelve inches, iVo«. 749 and 753—hmch land soil and iindrr- pear filled with gravel only, although water f<>?; ana /o^^-omcn lana sou ana unapr- Y ^ , , i.u -If subsoil^ from the eastern portion of **Ohvina 18 mostly found beneatn. Of the soil of the Vineyard," the property of Mr. J. P. Smith, plain no samples have yet as been received. Ihe ^^.^ ^^^^^ situated a short distance below the soil of the rolUng iiplaLds lying southvvard of Monte," just referred to, and its Pleasanton is mainly a red, ol ten quite still, lower portion appears to have substantially the clayey and more or less gravelly loam, whica ga^e s'oil as Nof 649, with the admixture of also forms the subsoil where ( is IS the case very g^^^^g^^^^j^ ^^^^ ^.^^^ flourish admir- frequently) the surface soil is «ark-tmted. ^, ^^^^^ ^j^^ ^^^^^ These alternations occur from one lull to another, i^nd, which formsa narrow terrace at the base the dark soil lying chiefly on the lower ones j ^j^^ j^^jj^^ ^^^^^ the request for the analysis. The rolling region is traversed, or in part skirted .^^ possible, to determine the cause and on the west, by the "Arroyo del ValK acreeii possible remedy or this trouble. The soil is a heading in the coast range near Mt. H imilton. ^^^^^ loam of dun of grayish tint, and scarcely Within the range it carries running water changes for from four to five feet. The sample throughout the year, but after einergu g trom ^^^^ ^^^^^^ depth, the un- the canyon its gravelly bed hides the water ^^^ ^^^^^.j „^ depth of three feet. Both during most of the summer. Its valley, usua y ^j-j^^ ^^^^^^.^ ^^^^^ \d ^^ev cent of sand too about mile or more in width, is beautitu ly ^.^^^.g^ p^g^ ^j^^.^^ a I 50 inch sieve-mesh; dotted with large oaks; its sod very gravelly the analysis represents the composition of the j and mostly dark colored and very deep, al- c.g^^ ^^^.ti^M j^^j^^ ^j^^^^ I H I D o ; o 0 <3 : ^ I Ot »f5 0 00 -fjl «0 00 f-l ic •CO 1^ : -wb •CO •§ op «g d 0 0 0 c ;c! d 0 • ©i I ' nai ll v d pu — 1' CO — CO C 05 OS W .* ^ 0 P b 1 ~ CD in m d d d c d d c4 «5 0 d Ice d dc4«> 05 i No. S a 06 06 > c w d 0 CO 15 nt 6 «3 on c 10 eo r- Oi 00 Hd'jiecdirit-lddr-iec d : cc Tj< (o O d d 10 o 2 = eo o »t. o in o o »f; I ' JO dodddecuidd 'coi sidcrable supply of lime will probably maintain the uetdf al bupply of available phosphoric acid for Rome yearje; but with them also the use of bone meal or »»tber phosphate fertilizers will be among the first things called for when the vines have liorne for some years. Great care should be taken to return the pomace and distdlery wash to these soil^, so as to exhaust as little as possible their supply of phosphates and pot- ash, although the supply of the latter is above the point of ddficiency, in the bench land quite ample. Altogether it appears that these upland lands are of the kind usually designated as being most -prod table in vineyards or fruit culture, as grain would exhaust them very rapidly; and on the same grounds, they would naturally be ex- pected to be prominent for quality rather than quantity unless fertilized; while the reverse would be expected of the valley. Slafe-rolored vpland adobe soil, from the rolling upland, a mile west of Mission San Jose, south of Wasliington Corners road; E. \V. Hilgard's land.* This sample is representative of the heavier eoil of the ridges in this neighbor- hood, now mostly occupied by vineyards?; also of the higher (southern) portion of Mr. Gallegos' vineyard. The lower portion of the latter has a lighter soil, an intermixture of the adobe with the alluvial silt of Mission creek; while in the smaller valleys to southward there is a deep bUck, calcareous soil, much lighter in tillage than the upland adobe. The southward slope from the ridge occupied by the latter soil also has a lighter soil, resulting from the admixture of the sandy materials which underlie the whole of the Mission promontory, down to the railroad track. Wherever the latter are near the surface, the soil is quite light, even on the ridges, as in most of the broken lands. Where the adobe prevails, however, there often lies just above the pervious sandy strata, at depths varying from 1^ to 4 feet, a **cement" layer, i. e., an intimate mixture of sandstone fragments with a heavy, yellow clay, which is at times quite impervious both to water and to roots, and causes some difficulty in the drainac;e, and therefore in the working of the adobe soil. The latter when packed by heavy rains, or till- age when too wet, is very close and adhesive, and . dries into lumps of stony hardness. ThesR, rr»u 4. 1. •! • • J. • 4. 1 1 • J.T- however, crumble quickly when again wetted, The most strikinc' point m this table is the , , ' . ^ i „ 1 d wide dilTerence be^tween the uplands and the and when once in good tilth the soil retains el Monk The latter remarkably well; ocal y, it contains some small I rl »CC^1CT;«OC^-*'MCOO 00 CO » -O O CO 00 O la cioccof^-f^-^fcccoo CO ca o — 'i' 0 X « l» C<l (Nf-OOiE>OiCC--Op ^ d d o d d cc d d ■ioO ■ 16 to '.s .J O e3 § ' eSTJ • valley soil from the Ojo del has an extraordinarily high percentage of pot- giains, but mostly ib is without coarse ma- 5..h . v.r^ i.rr. ^r..-.f ir^o n iT F ^ ^ % tcrials, aud all of it willpass through a sieve aan, a very large one ot lime, and a laic one of -.i 1 c ^ • u tiu u • i phosphoric acid, but ia very poor in humus. la meshes of l-oO inch. The mechanical the upland soils, which d.fife; very little from ^"^si* g»^« following result: each other in composition, the supply of potash No. 789— Upl.\nd Adobe, Mission San Jose. is less than one third as high as in the valley, c!ay 34.158 that of lime somewhat over one third; while the Sediment of -^O.^S mm. hydraulic value 18.240 phosphoric acid is only about one half as high, " and but just above the usual limit of deficiency. The limit is passed in the case of the banch soil, in which the supply of phosphates is quite deficient. Hence the difference between the thr.f tineas of the vines on the bench and in the valley is sufficiently accounted for, and the remt-dy is the use of bone meal. As regards the uplands, the relatively con- * Analysis by Mr. Geo. E. Colby, of the AoTicultural! Class of 1882, working as a volunteer at the time. 0.25 mm 1.612 " 0.5 mm 2.607 <' " 1.0 mm 1.539 " " 2 0 mm 3.570 " "40 mm 4.115 '* 8.0 mm 7.162 " 16.0 mm 11.924 *' " 32 0 mm 7.314 " " 64.0 mm 2.515 Total 94.756 According to the percentage of clay in this soil, it should not be materially heavier in work- ing than is that of the agricultural grounds at Berkeley. But a comparison of the two shows that in the Berkeley soil the finer sediments ex- ist in considcably larger proportion than in that from the Mission, which explains the greater tendency of the latter to "run together" under the influence of heavy rains. The chemical analysis of the soil resulted as follows : No. 789— Chemical Analysis. Insoluble Matter 64.790) „^ Soluble Silica 16..'S64 j S1.354 Pota-h 579 i Soda mo I Lime -sqs Maurnesia 978 Br. Oxide of Manganese 022 Peroxiie of Iron ' 3.791 Alumina 7,71S Phosphoric Acid ! 143 Sulphuric Acid [, \oqq Water and Organic Matter .....!'. 4 ! 601 Total 100.163 Humus Q()7 Available Inorganic 598 Available Phosphoric Acid , 028 Hygrojcop M^^isture '.*.'*.' 9,'74 Absorbed at 11* C This analysis shows the supplies of potash and phosphoric acid to be ample, the latter be- ing more than twice as high as the average of the lighter soils of the Coast Range opposite, or of the Livermore valley, as given above. But for so heavy a soil the supply of lime is not as high as would be desirable for easy tillage or even thriftiness to the full extent of which the soil is capable; nor is the supply of humus nearly as large as it should be. In both re- spects, therefore, the soil is capable of improve- ment, by liming and green manuring. The par- tial examination of the deep black adobe of the I valleys, for comparison in the latter two points, I gave the following result: TEP. CKNT. fii^e 2.01 Humu^ 3 08 Available inorganic i.03 Available phosphoric acid *(}54 These data convey some idea of the effect of the addition of lime and vegetable matter to the gray adobe of the ridge. The amount of available phosphoric acid is more than doubled, and the surprising growth made by young seed- ling vines in this soil, as compired with the ridge soil, speaks of the difference in favor of the former.