UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. AGRICUUURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. BULLETIN NO. 28. Examinations of Tule, Marsh and Al- kali Soils. Taking into consideration the differences in location and condition, the two soils are not as unlike each other as might have been expected. 'The Novato soil shows by its high percentage Tale and Marsh Soils. of alkalies and of sulphuric acid (chlcrine was It should be remembered that the tules of ^ determined) the presence of the ingredients . . ot sea water, its potash percentage is extraor- Ulifornia are of two distinct kinds, viz.: the dinarily high. Lime is in full supply, but phos- land of the salt or tide- water lauds, and those phoric acid is only in moderate proportions, as which are not now reached by saline tide water, \ n m ° st p alifornia . soils. Humus is, of course, or fresh-water tules. Of the samples examined, No. 7*20, from Roberts' Island, belongs to the latter class, while the other two are of the salt- marsh character, as is bhown by their high con- tents of soda. No. 7*20. — Sediment soil from Roberts, 1 Island, Sin Joaquin county. Sent by Mr. J; W. Fer- in abundant supply, but is in an acid condition, requiring juration, and would doubtless also be benefited by ihe use of some lime or marl. The high absorption of moisture is largely due to the presence of so much vegetable matter. The Roberts' Island soil, being thoroughly leached by fresh water, has less of potash as well as of soda, but still a full supply of the former. In lime it falls below ris, of Stockton, on behalf of the Glasgow Land * he 8 ? ils 1 ° f the valley at large, much of it hav- , T . ~ i i i A 1D g« doubtless, been washed away in solution: and Improvement Co. The sample is slate- an d an addition of lime to the soil would doubt- colored when dry, darkens greatly in wetting, less be effective in moderating the "running- 1 to- weed" which is noticeable in these lands, and is explained by the heavy supply of active humus, and therefore of nitrogen. But the phosphates are again only in somewhat scanty supply, and will doubtless be the first want felt in cultivation. For the present these lands are understood to be profusely fertile, sometimes embarrassing the larmer by the heavy stalks of the grain, in regard to the coarseness of his hay. No. 787. — Marsh soil from Grizzly Island, Sacramento County, sent by Mr. Warren Dut- ton for examination as to its being sufficiently and shows visibly the remnants of vegetation contained in it. The coarser part of this was taken out by sifting before analysis. It is of tine texture, with very little coarse sand, all passing through the sieve of 1-50 inch meshes. On heating it gives off a peaty odor, and be- comes quite light colored and somewhat coher- ent, showing a considerable amount of clay in i s mass. No. 213. — Soil from Sarato Meadows, near San Rafael, Marin county. Sent on behalf of the same interes s by Mr. Christensen, the local superintendent. This soil is of a whitish-gray substaDtial to become a soil when cultivated tint, and contains many streaks of vegetable re mains intermixed by the plow, it having been plowed once; appears to be more sandy than the Roberts' Island soil. Here, also, the unde composed vegetable remains were removed hy the 1-50 inch sieve, he analysis representing the tine earth passing hrough. The soil is of a slightly brackish taste, and yields to water a somewhat brownish tint, showing that it is in an acid condition, as usual in such soils. The analysis resulted as shown in the table below: NO. 720— TULE 80IL8. ROBERTS NOVATO ISLAND. MEADOW'S. Insoluble Matter 40.65 ) M ft „ 39.70 ) „. R . i Silica 21.18 / 61 - 83 24.95 (° Soluble 5 Potash . Soda Lime Magnesia Br. Oxide of Manganese Peroxide of Iron Alumina Phosphoric Acid Sulphuric Acid Water and Organic Matter. Total Humus Available Inorganic Hygroscop. Moisture Absorbed at 17° .63 .26 .43 2.18 .05 10.01 13.59 .06 .09 10.53 99.66 2.36 .57 10.44 at 9°C The soil resembles that from Novato meadows, but contains a much larger proportion of vege- table matter, and is very spongy. After drying at 100° it lost 29.7 per cent on ignition, show- ing that the surface to the depth to which the plow can reach is composed to the extent of nearly one-third of its weight, and quite half of its bulk, of undecomposed vegetable substance. It is, therefore, almost too much of a "muck" to be directly available for cultivation in its present condition. Alkali Salts from the "wire -grass land" near Visalia, Tulare county. Leached from a sam- ple taken in the wooded flats two miles west of Visalia (soil No. 585; see Report Coll. of Agr. for 1882, P. 26). This soil is a very productive one, and the analysis shows unusually high percentages of potash, lime and phosphoric acid. It being quite light in texture, the alkali 5 -- 1 does not interfere with its tillage, although the 13 o~ black rings it leaves upon evaporation of pud- .24 dies of water standing on the soil show that it 10.15 contains a large amount of carbonate of soda. The soil was extracted with water, which dis- " 4 solved 1.20 per cent of its weight. On ignition . 3! it lost about twe-fifths, or .50 of organic matter 17.08 (dissolved humus); and of the remaining .76 per cent, .51 was again soluble in water, leaving .25 1.34 1.80 .87 2.77 .14 of insoluble residue consisting m dnly of car- land, sent by Mr. Isaac B. Hum ford, Bakers- bonate of lime, with a little magnesia, as well as £ e id, February 27th, 1883. The crust yields some iron and alumina (perhaps simply a little to water 21. 15 per cent, of soluble salts, the clay). solution upon evaporation and ignition of the The soluble part, the • 'alkali" proper, was res idue gives: composed as follows: Per Cent. ! Again Soluble 94.94 ALKALI SALTS FROM NKAR VI8ALIA. Per cent. Carbonate of Soda Carbomteof Potash Chloride of Sodium (common salt) 4.4 Sulphate of Magnesia (Epsom salt) 8.1 Tri- Phosphate of Soda J0.4 Sulphate of Soda (Glauber's salt) 13.4 Insoluble 1.70 Organic Matter and Water 3.34 The soluble part is composed as follows: Sulphate of Soda 70.61 Carbonate of Soda 14.82 Chloride of Sodium 4.13 Sulphate of Potash 4.72 10O.4I Carbonate of Magnesia 45 It thus appears that of the soluble part of j Total Soluble... 94.73 this alkali, nearly two thirds (64.1 percent) insoluble part: consists of cirbonates, which therefore in the Carbonate of Lime 58 original s »il would constitute .32 per cent of Carbonate of Magnesia 17 the 8 w« g htof the soil, including nearly io ;g potas>ic caj v onate (saleratus). lne total 01 silica 55 potash fouud in the original soil is 1.224 per cent, aveiy unusually high percentage. It is Total Insoluble 1.70 therefore quite clear that no potash manures This "alkali" is accordingly of the milder will be needed in this soil for a generation at sort, containing only a relatively small propor- least; and so long as phosphate of soda circu- tion of the noxious carbonate of soda. This lates in the soil water, no bone meal will be explains w r hy the crops on Kern Island can suc- called for. When this soil shall have been freed ceed in spots on which, at times, the white from its alkaline carbonates by the use of gyp efflorescence can be bodily scooped off. Yet sum, it must become one of the most profusely the transformation of the carbonate of soda, fertile in the State. by the use of gypsum on the soil, would be an Alkaline Efflorescence, from soil on Kern Is- undoubted improvement. E. W. Hil< ;ari>.