REPORT OF THE CHEMIST 153 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



The first five samples on the chart were from areas in the immediate vicinity of 

 Windermere — a village on the lake of that name situated about ninety miles south of 

 Golden. Driving from the north, the typical sage-brush country is entered some thirty 

 or forty miles before reaching Windermere, at v^hich place farmers and fruit growers 

 feel or admit the necessity of irrigation for the growth of crops geiierally. Here, as 

 indeed in almost all other parts of the dry belt, the results from judicious irrigation 

 showed that excellent crops could be secured and that the soil could not be devoid of 

 fertility. Nos. 4315 and 4317 are fine-grained, mouse-brown loams, taken from one of 

 the lower benches, representative of the first four inches of the virgin and cultivated 

 areas. The cultivated soil No. 4317 had borne six crops of oats without any applica- 

 tion of manure, and, as far as one could judge, had originally been uniform in all 

 essential particulars with No. 4315 — the virgin soil. The data show that both soils 

 are abundantly supplied with the essential elements of plant food, and mofe particu- 

 larly with nitrogen. The percentage of organic matter and lime are also excellent, 

 betokening soils of more than average fertility. 



Comparing the soils, we do not find that the six years under crop has very 

 materially affected the amounts of ' total ' nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, nor 

 would any very marked differences have been expected from so short a period of culti- 

 vation ; but when we turn to the amounts of ' available ' phosphoric acid and potash 

 very considerable differences are to be observed. Thus, the cultivated (and irrigated) 

 soil contains almost twice as much potash and almost five times as much phosphoric 

 acid in an available form as the virgin soil. Some years ago (1889), in examining 

 irrigated and non-irrigated soils from near Calgary, Alta., we noted the same 

 peculiarity, raising the question whether cultivation with irrigation did not materially 

 serve to increase the availability of these mineral elements. The point is deserving of 

 further investigation, for if the above deductions be correct we have at least one ex- 

 planation for the exceptional productiveness of these soils under irrigation — and 

 possibly also a warning that this fertility must be maintained by rational, judicious 

 cultural methods, or the excellent results obtained when these soils are at first tilled 

 will more or less rapidly disappear. 



No. 4324 is a sample of the uncropped, unmanured soil from the first four inches 

 of one of the lower benches on the west side of Lake Windermere. In general appear- 

 ance it is very similar to the soils just discussed, being a fine-grained, loose, sandy 

 loam of a light chocolate-brown colour. A careful comparison, however, by one accus- 

 tomed to examining soils, indicates that it is somewhat less rich in organic matter, 

 and analysis bears out this conclusion. Similarly with the lower percentage of organic 

 matter we find a reduction in the amount of nitrogen present. Though in ' total ' 

 phosphoric aeid and potash this soil would not rank with many of our richest loams, 

 the proportions of these elements that are more or less immediately available for crop 

 use are exceedingly good. The lime-content is also very satisfactory. From the 

 favourable physical condition of the soil as well as from its adequate stores of plant 

 food, we judge that with provision for water it should prove very productive. 



No. 4320. — This is a further sample typical of the sage-brush land. It was taken 

 from an unbroken area on one of the lower benches on the east side of the lake some 

 two miles south of Windermere. In appearance and physical characters it is very 

 similar to the soils already described. The nitrogen-content betokens a soil of more 

 than average productiveness, while the percentages of phosphoric acid and potash both 

 ' total 'and * available ' are quite satisfactory. 



No. 4321, from the same ranch, was collected from a bench or plateau lower than 

 that represented by No. 4320 and from an area that had been under cultivation — 

 oats and other grains chiefly — for a number of years, but which had not been manured. 

 Compared with the foregoing it would appear to be somewhat richer in vegetable 

 matter, and the analysis bears out this view. In the amounts of phosphoric acid and 

 potash present it closely approximates No. 4320, but is considerably richer in lime. 

 The data support the practical experience of those tilling these areas that the lower 



