148 



EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



64 VICTORIA, A. 1901 



CANADIAN SOILS. 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



New Westminster. — A sample of the surface soil, together with its underlying 

 subsoil or hard-pan, representing the character of the soil on the peninsula formed 

 by the Eraser river and Burrard inlet, have been submitted to careful and complete 

 analysis. The examination was undertaken with a view of rendering assistance to 

 the fruit-growers, market-gardeners and farmers in the neighbourhood of New West- 

 minster, who had found considerable difficulty in profitably working this soil. The 

 collection of the soils was made by Mr. W. J. Brandrith, Secretary B. C. Fruit- 

 growers' Association, New Westminster, who, speaking of the samples, under date 

 of February 20, 1900, says: 



'No. 1 is a virgin soil; it has never been disturbed by the hand of man, but 

 thirty years ago a very destructive fire swept over the whole district. The timber 

 had been chiefly cedar; a second growth of red fir, poplar and willow is now growing. 

 The depth of soil to the hard-pan varies from 6 inches to 5 feet, and averages about 

 2 feet 6 inches. The soils were taken from lot 25, group I., N. W. district, munici- 

 cipality of Burnaby, and distant about 27 chains from the northern boundary of New 

 Westminster. It is a very fair sample of the soil of the whole peninsula formed by 

 the Fraser river and Burrard inlet. 



' No. 2 is from the hard-pan underlying No. 1. It has been exposed to the air, 

 but not to the rain, since September 26, 1899. 



' No. 3 is frotn the hard-pan, taken from a depth of 2 feet in the hard-pan, or 5 

 feet from the surface of the soil.' 



Analysis and Report — No. 1. — The soil has all the appearance of a light, sandy 

 loaxn. It contains a considerable amount of gravel and small pebbles, as well as of 

 undecomposed root fibre. Tested with litmus paper, it gives a strong acid reaction. 

 Afier preparation, the fine earth (which in the air-dried condition is of a greyish-red 

 colour) was submitted to analysis. 



Nos. 2 and S are light grey in colour. They consist of firmly-cemented masses, 

 chiefly of sand, with pebbles intermixed. To the eye there is no indication in either 

 of them of humus, and they have the appearance of being exceedingly poor and 

 refractory. 



Analysis of Soils (water-free), Municipality of Burnaby, B.C., 1900. 



SI 



3 



Soil. 



1 Surface 



2 Hard pan, 2 feet from 

 I' surface 



3 Hard pan, 5 feet from 

 surface 



.22 



(8 

 02 



ID 



a 



cS 



>i 



O 



c3 



2S 



l-H 3 



.'2 e 



<D 



900 77-98 11-65 0-3.5 

 4-07| 8214 ll-56;0-70 

 3-60 82-75 11-220-36 



a 



O 



1-26 

 1-18 

 0-65 



I 



0-12 

 015 

 16 



< 



o 

 'u 



o 



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O 



0i3 

 013 

 13 





'o 



0-12 

 09 

 008 



era 

 Q 



1-05 



o 

 H 



100-61 

 100 02 

 100-00 



a 



o 



148 

 041 

 •028 



AVAIL.ABLE. 



o 

 P4 



Pi 



T3 



■0088 •0049" 0039 

 0062, 0173 0490 



I 



No 1. — Surface soil. The chief constituents to consider are potash, phosphoric 

 acid, and nitrogen and lime. Our previous work on Canadian soils woiild show that 

 good examples from uncultivated areas will, as a rule, contain from '25 to '50 per 

 cent potash, from 15 per cent to "25 per cent phosphoric acid, from "15 per cent to 

 "2 per cent nitrogen, and from '5 per cent upwards of lime. Many of our richest 



