50 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 



that have heen undertaken, much less to state in any detail the results obtained there- 

 from. All that can be attempted here, therefore, will be an outline of some of the 

 more important pieces of work completed and in hand that may serve as illustrations, 

 referring the reader to the various publications of the farm for fuller particulars. 



CANADIAN SOILS. 



There is probably no factor that plays a more important part towards profitable 

 farming than a productive soil, and all will admit that the agricultural wealth of a dis- 

 trict is very largely measured by the nature of its predominating soil. It is obvious, 

 therefore, that the determination of the agricultural value of a soil (as far as may be 

 obtained from chemical analysis), and especially of soils from new areas and 

 those about to be settled, is often a matter of the greatest importance. It is this view 

 that has led us to examine certain typical and virgin (uncropped and unmanured) 

 soils of Canada, collecting the samples carefully and as far as possible having them 

 representative of large areas, so that the results could be made widely useful. 



Since 1887 over 200 such samples, comprising surface and subsoils, have been 

 submitted to complete analysis. Among these are soils from every province in the 

 Dominion, though naturally the greater number are from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, 

 Alberta and British Columbia. The results from the first ten years' work in this 

 matter were incorporated in a paper presented to the meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, held in Toronto in August, 1897, and subsequ- 

 ently printed m extenso in the Experimental Farm Report for that year. From that 

 date on the work has been published as finished in the report of this Division. 



The \vriter is well awa.re that a soil's fertility consists in something more than 

 its plant food, and has never claimed that a chemical analysis is all that is sufficent 

 for making a cerrect diagnosis of a soil's crop-producing power. Nevertheless, such 

 an examination as furnishes the percentage of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash and 

 lime present would show what deficiencies, if any, in the soil elements essential for 

 plant growth, existed, afford valuable information regarding the suitability of the soil 

 for various farm crops and indicate the direction in which fertilization may be profit- 

 ably carried on. 



In addition to the usual ' complete soil analysis,' using strong, hot hydrochloric 

 acid as a solvent, we have since 1894 adopted the Dyer process (solvent: 1 per cent 

 citric acid) for estimating available plant food. By this method it has been shown 

 jjossible to obtain, approximately, the proportions of the mineral constituents that 

 are more or less immediately available for crop growth. The results thus obtained 

 have been foimd of particular value in diagnosis, especially as regards the immediate 

 needs of the soil. 



As it is quite impossible here to review this work on Canadian virgin soils without 

 omitting very much that is essential to a correct judgment of their value, it must suffice 

 to record the fact that we have obtained ample proof that large areas are to be found 

 in almost every province covered with virgin soil containing an abundance of those 

 materials which crops draw upon directly, and farm animals indirectly, for their 

 sustenance and growth. This is particularly the case in the provinces constituting 

 what is known as the great Northwest of Canada, where undoubtedly exist some of 

 the richest soils in the world. It would seem that thousands upon thousands of acres 

 of magnificent soil yet await the husbandman in that part of the Dominion. 



Naturally, there are many classes or types of soils in Canada. Among them, of 

 course, some that are of medium fertility, some poor, others very poor. Perhaps 

 it is to those occupying' lands of only moderate productiveness that our work in this 

 connection has been the most useful, since we have always laid special stress upon 

 the most economical means of increasing soil fertility. 



