152 



I>A.RT I. 



SOILS. 



The factors upon which the fertility of a soil depend are many. The amount of 

 plant food and its degree of solubility, the mechanical texture or tilth and the 

 climate (temperature, amount of rain-fall, &c.) are the chief. It is very evident, 

 therefore, that chemical analysis alone cannot give all the information necessary to 

 a full knowledge of a soil's productiveness, but that it is exceedingly useful to that 

 end will be apparent to those who have given this important subject careful thought. 

 A good mechanical condition and a favourable climate would prevail nothing for ihe 

 growth of crops unless those elements necessary for plant sustenance were present. 

 Chemical analysis gives the composition of a soil or the amount of these fertilizing 

 elements; unfortunately, in the present state of the science, it can give us but little 

 exact information as to the degree of solubility or assimilation of such. 



The amounts of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid, together with other 

 elements of plant food of minor importance, as obtained by means of analysis, I 

 propose to call the "total fertility" of a soil. The value of the knowledge of this 

 " total feriility " in arriving at a soil's relative productive power and its more especial 

 needs, will be apparent upon reflection. For, if on the one hand it proves a soil to be 

 barren of any ot those substances necessary for plant development, we know that cer- 

 tain manures must be added before profitable crops can be expected ; if, on the other 

 hand, a soil is shown to contain these materials in abundance, we may be sure that 

 with proper working and favourable climatic condition, this food will be converted 

 into assimilable forms. The matter of soil analysis is one of great importance. 

 Unfortunately, it is one involving a very large amount of skilled labour, as the 

 operation is not only lengthy, but must be performed with the greatest care, from 

 the fact that the most fertile soils contain plant food only in comparatively small 

 quantities, and that the differences in these quantities between rich and poor soils 

 are represented by fractions of a per cent. We are, theieiore, unable to undertake 

 the analysis of all the samples that may be sent for examination, and are obliged to 

 restrict this work to those specimens of virgin (unraanured and uncropped) soils 

 that are representative of large districts in the Dominion. Several samples, how- 

 ever, of " alkali " and other soils, which demanded special attention, have, in addi- 

 tion to these virgin soils, been examined. In all, twenty-four samples have been 

 analysed during the past year, the composition of which is fully set forth in the 

 following table. Several enquiries have been received by me from Great Britain 

 regarding the composition of our soils, and it is, therefore, probable that this work 

 done in the laboratories of the Farm may be found useful for those in the old country 

 who are considering the various provinces ol the Dominion as fields for emigration. 

 It must be distinctly understood that the data here given are altogether too meagre 

 to form the basis of any broad conclusion as to the relative fertility of the lands of 

 any district, yet they may serve in the meantime, and until further work of this 

 character is done, to indicate the nature of some of our soils. 



Alkali Soils. 



Three specimens of so-called " alkali " soils from the North-West Territories, 

 have been carefully analysed. In each instance the sender stated that such occur-red 

 in patches — sometimes only a few feet square, sometimes larger — surrounded by 

 land of excellent fertility. The earth of these spots or patches though black when 

 moist and first turned up, dries out more or less white. In these places the seeds 

 of roots and cereals will germinate, but the plants soon dwindle away, the former 

 attaining only the size of a gooseberry, and the latter turning yellow and dying at 

 the height of a few inches. Mr. Bedford, Superintendent of the Manitoba experi- 

 mental farm, writes that these patches generally occur in low lands with clay 



