INSTITUTE AND COLLEGE, PUSA, EOR 1913-14. 17 



soils, the application of magnesite or magnesium carbonate 

 has proved so harmful. The details of this investigation 

 have been published as Memoirs of the Department of 

 Agriculture in India, Chemical Series, Vol. Ill, No. 8. 



Swat River Canals land. — A number of samples of soil 

 from the land which has been irrigated by the Lower Swat 

 River Canal and from the land which will come under the 

 Upper Swat River Canal were taken during April and 

 May by the Superintending Engineer and myself from 

 places, the exact position of which has been registered with 

 reference to certain bench-marks on the canals. This latter 

 was done in order that samples may, if desired, be taken 

 from the same places on a future occasion. The original 

 object of taking the samples was to supply information res- 

 pecting the soil to an engineer in England who has asked for 

 information respecting the chemical composition of these 

 soils. In addition to this, however, Mr. A. J. Wadley, the 

 Superintending Engineer, was himself interested in the 

 subject, and the series of samples was for this reason some- 

 what increased. 



The lands which are commanded by these two canals 

 are very similar, in that they consist of the alluvium which 

 lies at the foot of the Himalayas in this part of India, and 

 although close to the low hills, and indeed some of the isolat- 

 ed outcrops occur in the alluvium, it consists almost entirelv 

 of fine alluvium without stones. The land which will come 

 under the Upper Swat River Canal lies close to the hills; 

 that which has been irrigated by the Lower Swat River 

 Canal lies further south. Only certain items in the com- 

 position of the soils were determined, those indeed which 

 are most likely to indicate their agricultural value or 

 defects. In respect of calcium carbonate, this constituent 

 varies within wide limits, being as high as 10 per cent, or 

 more in four samples and as low as (M per cent, in three. 

 Usually there is a sufficiency for agricultural purposes, but 

 when the proportion falls as low as -04 per cent, it will 

 probably pay to add lime. Of phosphate in a readily 

 assimilable condition there is in some cases a deficiency. 



