I>I\ISI0S OF CHEMISTRY 



95 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



No. 3. Woodside Farm. — From directly northeast of biff barn. A coarse-grained, 

 reddish sandy loam with some larpre pebbles or rock frapinents. Very little clay or 

 -ilt. Keaction : very faintly acid. 



No. Jf Blomidon Farm. — From northeast orchard. A comparatively fine-grained, 

 reddish, sandy loam, with no pebbles. Very friable, with very little clay or silt. Some 

 Tittle root fibre present. React ion : ver^' slightly acid. 



No. 5. JIahitant Farm. — From field south of railway track. A reddish, coar.se- 

 grained sandy loam, with some lumps of grey sand and a few pebbles and rock frag- 

 ments. Friable. Very little root fibre present. Reaction : distinctly acid. 



No. 6. Eahitant Farm. — From Lee Kinsmen's field north of road. A reddi>h 

 sandy loam. Sand both coarse and fine-grained, but no gravel or pebbles. Appar- 

 ently no root fibi;e. Not quit« so friable as preceding samples, possibly owing to 

 presence of slightly more clay. Reaction: distinctly acid. 



No. 7. Habitant Farm. — From orchard south of big barn.— Light chocolate-red 

 sandy loam with some pebbles. Lumps or masses not quite so friable as in many of 

 the other samples, probably owing to slightly more clay. Little evidence of organic 

 debris. Reaction: distinctly acid. 



The air-dried soils were prepared by first removing pebbles and rock fragments 

 a'nd then gently crushing and sifting the remainder, the fine portion (less than 

 • 5 mm.) being submitted to analysis. 



Analysis of (air-dried) Soils from Ward 1, Cornwallis, Kings Co., N.S. 



Physical characters and analytical data alike indicate that all these soils are 

 of the same tyi>e or class, and that the difTerences between them are rather those 

 of degree than of kind. They are sandy loams, the sand for the most part being 

 coarse. Though many contain pebbles and rock fragments, none of the samples 

 could be termed gravelly. Clay and silt are present only in very small proportions 

 and in consequence the soils are free working, open and friable. IS'o doubt in the 

 many years of cultivation the finer particles have washed and worked down into the 

 subsoil. 



The amount of vegetable matter (humus) might with advantage be increased in 

 all the soils, both for improving tilth and moisture-holding capacity as well as to 

 form a storehouse for organic nitrogen, a very important element in which these 

 loams are only moderately rich. Organic manures would be the first desideratum 

 towards the permanent improvement of these soils. If barnyard manure is not 

 available in sufficient quantities, the humus-forming material must be furnished by 

 practising a ccmpnratively short rotation, putting the land in grass with clover for, 

 say, two years out of five. If the land is in orchard, legumiueus cover crops must be 



