Excerpt from The Reclamation of Alkali Soils However, counteracting forces are often present. For example, if the soluble salts which accumulate in the soil or are applied as constituents of the irrigation water are composed in considerable part of calcium compounds, the adverse chemical and physical edects just alluded to fail to materialize to any great extent. Under such conditions soluble salts do not produce excessive chemical changes in the clay and humus of the soil.' Where this is the case, mere drainage and leaching will suffice to produce complete reclamation of the soil. An example of this type of soil condition is found in the Imperial Valley. As Thomas) has shown, the excessively saline soils of certain parts of the Imperial Valley can be reclaimed readily and be caused to produce large yields of crops by the simple expedient of drainage and leaching without applying any chemical treatment whatever. These soils contain relatively large quan tities of soluble calcium salts as well as large amounts of sodium salts. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.