1 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
 
 BERKELEY, CAL. 
 
 E. W. HILGARD, Director. 
 
 BULLETIN NO. 83 
 
 The Rise of ffie A/kali in ihe San Joaquin Valley. 
 
 The rapid increase of population and settle- 
 ments in the Sin Joaquin valley, and the fre- 
 quency with which inquiries relative to the 
 nature and treatment of alkali" come to this 
 station from that section as well as other por- 
 tioDS of the State, render it expedient to give 
 a summary statement of the main points in the 
 form of a bulletin. A more elaborate treatise 
 on the same subject, originally published in 
 the report for 1880, has been reprinted and can 
 still be sent to those desiring more detailed in- 
 formation. 
 
 It is well known that like all regions ha vie g 
 a deficient rainfall and requiring irrigation for 
 suocessful agriculture, the San Joaquin valley 
 has (part'cularly in its upper portions) tracts 
 of land afflicted more or less with " alkali," 
 that is, showing during the dry season a *'bloom- 
 ing-out " of soluble salts on the surface of the 
 ground. This phenomenon is the direct and in- 
 evitable result of a scanty rainfall in all regions 
 having a naturally productive soil, from which 
 the mineral matters required for the nutrition of 
 plants are beiog continually set free by the natur- 
 al processes included under the general term of 
 weathering; a decomposition of the minerals 
 contained in the soil, among the products of 
 which are always the soluble salts of the alka- 
 lies (potash and soda). The potash salts are. 
 by a peculiar chemical action, mostly retained 
 in the soil and form an important part of the 
 mineral food of plants; while the soda (or 
 sodium) salts, upon which the soil exerts but a 
 very slight retentive action, are in clim«ites 
 having an abundant rainfall washed currently 
 
 into the country drainage and thence into the 
 ocean, whose briny waters testify of the long- 
 mamtained accumulative process. 
 
 Where the rainfall is scanty, and especially 
 where the showers falling at any one time are 
 80 light as to wet the soil only to the depth of 
 a few feet, this current washing-out cannot oc- 
 cur, and the sodium salts necessarily accumu- 
 late in the soil together with those of potash, 
 lime and magnesia which are, in the ordinary 
 course of events, wholly or in great part re- 
 tained by the soil. As a consequence, each 
 time that the soil moiature evaporates between 
 showers, it carries with it to the surface, in so- 
 lution, whatever of soluble alkali salts may 
 have accumulated within the depth to which it 
 penetrated, to be again washed down by the 
 next shower, to such depth as its amount may 
 justify. This process is in the natural course 
 of events indefinitely repeated with one and the 
 same quantity of alkali salts, diminished only 
 to the extent to which some heavier shower 
 may wash part of the surface accumulation to 
 the lower ground. Hence the latter will as a 
 rule show a larger proportion of alkali on this 
 account alone; in addition, being naturally 
 richer in the fine and easily decomposable 
 mineral powder carried down and deposited 
 by the streams, the low ground will tend to 
 develop proportionally more alkali than the 
 higher land; and thus we often find such lands, 
 and even the river bottoms, heavily incrusted, 
 when the adjacent uplands are practically free 
 from alkali. Bat it must not be forgotten that 
 this very fact testifies of the great intrinsic 
 
2 
 
 richness of the soil in mineral plant food, and 
 of the highly profitable results sare to follow 
 the effictaal reclamation of these low-lying 
 alkali tracts. 
 
 The alkali salts vary in compodtion, bat 
 usually consist of three principal ingredients, 
 whose relative proportions vary materially in 
 dififdrent regions, and cause corresponding dif- 
 ferences in the effects on vegetation, whether 
 natural or cultivated. These three ingredients 
 are, in the usual order of their abundance, com* 
 men salt (sodium chloride), Glauber's salt 
 (sodium sulphate), and Ealsoda (sodium car- 
 bonate). The latter is sometimes present in 
 predominant quantity, and then gives rise to 
 what is popularly known as ** black alkali/' 
 from the fact that the sodium carbonate forms 
 with the humus of the soil a dark-colored sola- 
 tion, which on evaporation in mud- puddles 
 leaves black rirg^ on the soil surface. Tne dis- 
 tinction between the " black alkali " and the 
 '* white," consisting mainly of the bland and 
 relatively innocuous GUuber'a and common 
 salt, is important, for the effect of carbonate of 
 soda upon vegetation many times more injurious 
 than that of the former, not only because of 
 its direct corroding effects upon the root-crown 
 when it accumulates near the surface, but also 
 because, as already stated, it dissolves out of 
 the soil that highly important ingredient, 
 humus or vegetable mold, and, moreover, 
 renders clayey soils almost completely until- 
 lable. The latter effect is well seen in the low- 
 lying alkali spots, where (even in the sandy 
 lands) the soil, in which the clay accumulates, 
 is 60 obstinately caked together as to render it 
 extremely difficult to put in the plow, and 
 comes up in heavy intractable clods most difficult 
 to break up. The latter difficulty does not ex- 
 ist in the case of the ** white" alkali soils; 
 they till kindly and the only trouble lies in the 
 accumulation of the salts at the surface, in con- 
 srqaenoe of evaporation, to such extent as to 
 injure the surface roots and root crown. Car- 
 bonate of soda or ** black " alkali is converted 
 into the ** white" (i. c, Glauber's salt) by 
 dressings of gypsum or land-plaster, and the re- 
 lief thus affjrded is in very nnany oases all that 
 is needed to insure profitable cultivation. 
 
 It is only in exceptionally bad caBes that 
 enough of any of these soluble salts to injure 
 the deeper roots exists in the depths of the 
 soil, or within more than one inch of the sur- 
 face. This surface accumulation is obvious 
 enough to the eye during the dry season; it is 
 well illustrated by the examination of the solu- 
 ble contents of a soil from Fresno county, given 
 first in the table below. It will be seen that 
 ..uat the surface the alkali contents were nearly 
 fififififi|r)ur times as great as at any point below. 
 
 i Aside from the three most prevalent ingredi- 
 
 ents of the alkali ornsts, there are always pres* 
 
 ent a number of others, some of which are of 
 fan«iamental importance to plant life, and of 
 which the mf re presence in the aoluble form 
 proves that the soil contains, in a more or less 
 insoluble shape but still accessible to the ose of 
 plants, all that it oin retain of these aseful ia- 
 gredients. Such are pirticularly the salts of 
 pitash, aod soluble phosphates, both of which 
 are very commonly found in thf* alkali salts 
 from the heavier soils of the S*n Joaquin Vil- 
 ley; while saltpeter in the form of buih potas- 
 sium and eodium nitrates is o >ipmon espt-otally 
 in the " black " alkali districts, and reprfteotsa 
 surplus of the most expensive of the fertilizers 
 which the farmer finds it necessary to supply to 
 his BoiU in order to maintain their productive- 
 ness. While it is true that these nitrates are 
 not retained by the soil but pmnn away with the 
 drainage, their presence testifits of the inten- 
 sity of the nitrifying process in the soil under 
 the conditions ot the local oliroate. 
 
 Thus, while the presence of ao excess of 
 alkali salts is an evil, requiring to be abated, 
 yet the above facts, as well as the results of 
 actual trial, prove that alkali soils are eminent* 
 ly worthy of attention and oorreotiTe treatment 
 because of their great intriosio resources in 
 plant food. 
 
 The most obvious mode of correoting the 
 condition of alkali soils generally is, cleatly, to 
 supplement by artifi(?i«l means the natural de» 
 ficiency of draioago through the soil, resulting 
 from the scanty rainfall. For, if we onoe leaoh 
 out the surplus salts that have aocomulited 
 for ages, it will take ages to b iog abont the 
 same condition of things, and we shall practi- 
 cally have put an end to the •'•Ikali'* d fficnlty. 
 
 But this leaching-oot cannot be done by pat* 
 ting water on the mrface of the land, onletsat 
 the same time its removal nfUr pasMtng through 
 the soil is provid»d for. For it is mamtestttat 
 if the alkali solution descends no fsrther tbaa 
 the subsoil and remains there, ready to resi* 
 cend so soon as evaporation at the snrfsoe calU 
 for it, we shall have done do g od. In fact, 
 the inutility of this mode of procedure has been 
 so thoroughly tested in practice, both in Cali- 
 fornia and in Ind a, a« to have shown that it is 
 the rtv-^rse of useful and increases instead of 
 diminishing the evil; because the soluble salts 
 thereafter ascend from greater depths than the 
 annual rainfall could have reached, and their 
 sum total is thus materially inoreased. This ii^ 
 the simnle explanation of what is known in the 
 Great Valley as the »• rise of the alkali," which 
 is observed in all lands subjected to surface ir- 
 rigation for a some length oi time; creating in- 
 creasirg inconvenience and alarm as time pro« 
 grosses. 
 
 While under the natural conditions existing: 
 in Cilifornia there is no real cause for alarm so 
 far as the ultimate repression of the alkali- 
 plague is oonoerned, and while in the majority 
 of cases judicious cultivation (with the nse of 
 gypsum when called for) is capable rf prevent- 
 ing any serious damage to cropK, yet th« pres- 
 ent inconvenience and loss resulting from the 
 risn and rapid extension of the alkali-area are 
 sufficient to call for strong measures toward 
 the abitement of the evil. The first condition 
 cf such abatement is a general understanding of 
 the nature and caasee of the trouble, th « more 
 
3 
 
 as in many cases the improTement cannot be 
 brought ahoat without such concerted action 
 (and perhaps even the exercise of the ri^ht of 
 condemnatioD and eminent domair) as is re- 
 quired in the c^sr of irrioation works. 
 
 Underdrainage is the general and absolute 
 corrective /or alkali. To fljod the land until un- 
 derdraiDs laid reasonable diatances apart shall 
 have ran for some ti^ite, will end the tronble, 
 not only for the time being but for centuri f; 
 provided only that solid beds of the alkali salts 
 do not underlie, as unfortunately seemi to be 
 the case in some of the lower lands of the 
 upper Tulare basin. How to de^l with that 
 state of things need not now be discussed, as it 
 is the rare exception. 
 
 In the porous soih of the Fresno neighbor- 
 hood, where until quite lately alkali was 
 unknown, its rise has clearly been brought 
 about by the rise of the water-table, resulting 
 from the establishment of hi^^h lying ditcher; 
 and its abatement can b^ brou^^bt about by the 
 same means that have been used for lowering 
 the water itself, thai: threatened to swamp the 
 very plains that 15 vears ago showed no nnoist- 
 ure at the depth of 40 or more feet, but where 
 a few years ago water was within two or three 
 feet of the surface, drowning out both vines 
 and trees. The establishment of drainage- 
 ditches has put an end to this danger whcrtver 
 it has been properly carried out, and with it 
 the alkali trouble can also be terminated, by 
 thorough flooding of the surface until the 
 ditches shall have carried away the leachings 
 into the country drainage. 
 
 There is, however, in certala regions one dif- 
 ficulty in the way of the success of this opera- 
 tion, namely, the existence of a bed or layer of 
 calcareous hardpan, equally impervious to roots 
 and water. Farmers have already learned that 
 where this hardpan underlies the subsoil at a 
 few feet depth, trees and vines will not flourish 
 unless it is broken through, so as to enable the 
 roots to paes beneath. This ** knocking the 
 bottom out " of the holes in which trees are to 
 be planted has already become a well-under- 
 stood operation in the hardpan neighborhoods, 
 the crowbar, or even a charge of powder being 
 called into r^ quisition. It is noticeable that in 
 snoh lccaUti(>s the alkali plague comes soonest 
 and is most persistent, bciog the natural result 
 of the retention of the alkaline water above the 
 hardpan layer, and its re-ascent, with all its 
 salts, so soon as evaporation sets in. The hard- 
 pan areas are generally basin-shaped; with the 
 rise of the irrigation water the latter, with the 
 salts it has leached out of the substrata of the 
 soil, will come in around the edges or through 
 the cracks of the hardpan ma°s, and remaining 
 there despite of drains, will bring an increasing 
 amount of alka4 to the surface each successive 
 year, until spots of a few square yards grow 
 into many acres and finally become a serious 
 menace to the welfare of the trees and vines. 
 
 The obvious remedy in such cases is to make 
 the drainage ditches deep enough to cut 
 through the hardpan, and to knock so many 
 holes mto the latter as to facilitate drainage to 
 the necessary extent. 
 
 It may be objected that this is too costly; 
 and probably there are cases in which this will 
 be so. It then behooves the owner to consider 
 the choice between a change of location, and 
 
 the adoption of other crops and repression 
 of the alkali by careful cultivation and the use 
 of gvpsum, as set forth in the pamphlet on the 
 sutjact heretofore published by this depart- 
 ment. But the time is not far distant when in 
 California as well as in Illinois and in the East 
 generally, the laying of underdrains will be con- 
 sidered an excellent investment on any iand as 
 valuable as all irrigated land is likely to be; 
 and when that day comes, ** alkali " will be at 
 an end on iirigated lands in this Stite. . 
 
 In the table below are given the results of a 
 number of examitations of alkali soils n.ade 
 within the present: year, as well as some of 
 earlier date and heretofore published, which il- 
 lustrate well the variability of the composition 
 of the soluble salts within short distances. 
 Thus, within the ten acre limits of Miss Aus- 
 tin's pL^ce in Central Colony, Fresno, we have 
 two samples of quite diflferent composition; 
 one (No. 1) of the " white," the other of the 
 ** black " type, viz., consisting chiefly of car- 
 bonate of soda. In the next three columns we 
 find the alkali of the ••white" type, while 
 again, that from the Emigrant Ditch is very 
 ** black " and is almost free from Gliuber's salt. 
 In Tulare county carbonate of soda is quite 
 generally present in large proportion, doubilesa 
 in consequence of the more general prevalence 
 of heavy soils rich in vegetable matter, which 
 promotes the formation of the carbonate. Yet 
 while (according tJ former observations not re- 
 corded here ) thia is true of the alkali of the Mua- 
 sel'slough country nearest the streams, the alkali 
 around Hanford is ( )r was in 1880) almost ex- 
 clusively of the "white" type. While the 
 water of Tulare lake, as ehown in a former bul- 
 letin, is rich in the carbonate, extensive tracts 
 south of the lake, and which were doubtless 
 covered by its waters at a time not very re- 
 mote (Smyrna neighborhood, in townships 25 
 ann 26, range 23), prove to nontain mere traces 
 of that substance in their a'kali, and do not re- 
 quire the use of gypsum. [See next page ] 
 
 It is thua apparent that so far as the effisaoy 
 of the use of gypsum is concerned, each region 
 will have to determine for itself whether or not 
 its alka4 is of the black or white type; and as 
 this can be generally readily ascertained by a 
 simple iuGpection of puddles on alkali grrund — 
 whether or not tinted by the dissolution of the 
 vegetable mold into an ioky liquid leaving 
 black rings on fvaporation — no one need be 
 long in doubt on that point. Wherever the 
 black tint apof^ars, dressings of land plaster, 
 ranging from 200 to 500 pounds per acre, will 
 usually fflfect the change from "black" to 
 ** white," after one or two irrigations followed 
 by cultivation; prt venting the killing of seeds 
 in the ground as well as the dwindling of seed- 
 lings after sprouting, and grea*ly improving 
 the tillage of the heavier soils. Thereafter, the 
 chief measure toward the prevention of the rise 
 of the salts to the surface is whatever tends to 
 prevent evaporation from the land surface; and 
 therefore particularly the maintenance of deep 
 and thorough tilth, and the avoidance of the 
 formation of any surface crusts. These means, 
 together with a proper choice of crops and mode 
 of culture, will serve to maintain good produc- 
 tion in most cases until the radical cure by 
 drainage alongaidt of irrigation shall be justi- 
 fied by the increased value of the land. 
 
TABLE SHOWING COMPOSITION OP ALKALI SALTS IN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. 
 
 Soluble salts in 100 parts soil 
 
 PotaHsium sulpha e 
 
 ♦Potassium nitrate 
 
 Potassium carbonate (Saleratus). . 
 Sodium sulphate (Glauber'H salt).. 
 
 So.iium carbonate (Sal-soda) 
 
 Sodium chloride (Common salt)... 
 
 *Sodium phosphate 
 
 Calcium sulphate (Gypsum) 
 
 Magnesium sulphate (Epsom salt)., 
 Orjjanic matter. 
 
 FRESNO COUNTY. 
 
 Sections 13 and 24 T. 14 S. R. 19 K, 
 4 miles S. W. from Fresno. 
 
 Alkali 
 
 soil 
 1888. 
 
 lar^e 
 very sligfht 
 chiefly 
 
 moderate 
 
 Alkali Spot, 1889 
 
 1 inch, 
 surface. 
 
 small 
 large 
 moderate 
 
 small 
 
 18 inches 
 below surface 
 
 Fmall 
 small 
 chiefly 
 
 very slight 
 
 26 inches 
 bel( w surface. 
 
 0.18 
 
 very slight 
 
 large 
 moderate 
 
 42 inches 
 hai-dpan. 
 
 very slight 
 
 large 
 moderate 
 
 very slight j very slight 
 
 Miss Austin's 
 Ranch, 
 Central Colony. 
 
 N. W. Cor. Nt Sec. 
 20 T 14 S. R. 21 E. 
 
 Surface 
 soil. 
 No. 1 
 
 3.54 
 small 
 
 large 
 >ma 1 
 chiefly 
 
 small 
 
 Surface 
 soil. 
 No. 2. 
 
 1.90 
 moderate 
 small 
 
 larire 
 chiffly 
 large 
 
 moderate 
 small 
 
 Surface 
 soil. 
 
 much 
 sm^ll 
 chiefl / 
 
 small 
 
 Surface 
 soil. 
 
 moderate 
 sii all 
 chiefly 
 
 small 
 
 Easton. 
 
 Emigrant 
 Diicb. 
 
 large 
 
 chiefly 
 
 large little 
 
 much 
 much 
 
 *Very generally present, but not always in quantities suffi icnt for determination. 
 
 Soluble salts in 100 parts soil 
 
 Potassium sulphate . 
 
 *Pota88ium nitrate 
 
 Potassium carbonate (Saleratup). . . 
 Sodium sulphate (Glauber's salt). . 
 
 Sodium carbonate (Sal-soda) 
 
 Sodium chloride (Common saltX . . 
 
 "Sodium pho.=«phate 
 
 Calcium sulphite (Gypsum) 
 
 Matfresium sulphate (Epeooi salt). 
 Organic matter 
 
 TULARE COUNTY. 
 
 Goshen. 
 
 Surface 
 soil. 
 
 1.40 
 
 44.24 
 32.98 
 16.74 
 1.97 
 
 1.57 
 
 People's 
 Ditch. 
 
 Alkali 
 crust. 
 
 1.92 
 88.09 
 1,00 
 
 Near 
 Lake 
 Tulare. 
 
 Surface 
 soil. 
 
 .83 
 
 9.21 
 
 81.30(n) 
 18.2 
 
 0.22 
 
 7.6 
 
 Visalia. 
 
 Surface 
 soil. 
 
 18.80 
 13.4 
 46.3 
 4.4 
 10.4 
 
 8.1 
 
 Lemoore. 
 
 Tulare 
 Exp't 
 Station. 
 
 AlkaU 
 crust. 
 
 Alkali 
 crust 
 
 KERS COUNTY. 
 
 Alkuli crusts from thti Smv ma artesian belt. 
 Townships 25 and 26 R. 28 E. W. S. W. 
 
 from Dfclan", 8. P. R. R. 
 
 No. 1 
 
 pmall 
 small 
 
 chiefly 
 * mtl'e* 
 
 little 
 moderate 
 
 32.8 ' 
 36.16 , 
 81.16 
 
 6.87 
 
 large 
 
 No. 2 
 
 moderate 
 moderate 
 fmall 
 
 Na 3 
 
 No. 4 
 
 No. 6 
 
 moderate 
 lar^e 
 
 No. 6 
 
 moderate jiirge 
 large |«mall 
 I fmall 
 
 mall 
 a'ge 
 
 No. 7 
 
 unall 
 
 No. 8 
 
 email 
 
 'ra>ll large 
 
 Sumner. 
 
 Alkali 
 crust 
 
 19. SO 
 *87*.i4 
 
 'small I 'mall ^m%\\ nm»ll { 
 •mall nnall Itmall .email 
 
 0.96 
 18.31 
 90.87 
 
 Very generally present, but not always in quantities sufficient for determination. (n) Common and Gtanber^ salti. 
 
 Kern 
 Island. 
 
 Alkali 
 
 cruet. 
 
 4.72 
 
 70.61 
 14.82 
 4.13 
 
 0 OS