EXPEEIMENT STATION. 65 



and moisture are suitably supplied, is a better test of the richness 

 of tlie material in plant food than analysis can be, for the latter 

 cannot always discriminate between the unaltered rock whose 

 elements are insoluble and inaccessible to the plant, and the 

 available plant food in the soil. 



Soils. 



In December, 1881, two samples of soil were sent to the Station 

 .for analysis. The analyses were made in due time, and the results 

 are here given with appropriate extracts from the correspondence. 



721. Soil received from Thos. E. Porter, Coventry. 



722. Soil sent by A. E. S. Bush, Niantic. 



Analyses. 



Moisture 2.354 .473 



Organic and volatile matters * 10.476 6.-577 



Potash .056 .047 



Soda,. .074 .093 



Lime, .130 .080 



Magnesia, 130 .186 



Oxide of iron and alumina, 3.575 4.542 



Sulphuric acid, .059 .041 



Phosphoric acid, 038 .051 



Sand, siUca and insoluble silicates, 83.108 87.910 



100.000 100.000 

 * Containing nitrogen, .334 . 1 40 



Mr. Porter wrote in substance regarding 721 : — 

 " The soil was taken from different parts of a twenty-five acre 

 meadow. Tlie meadow is surrounded on three sides by hills over 

 which brooks and springs descend and overflow it in part during 

 the wet season. There are no visible springs in the meadow. 



"It is ditched on each side by ditches 4 feet wide and 1.5 to 18 

 inches deep. The black, wet dirt or soil is 12 inches in depth ; 

 then, in places, one or two inches of sand and below this is a thin 

 stratum of bluish clay* in some parts and below this again a 

 coarse gravel bed. One family have lived there since 1720 and 

 know that the sod has never until now been broken or plowed. 

 The land is for the most part dry enough for tillage, being upland, 

 so-called. It bears what ts called June grass. When the frost 

 comes the June grass stubble curls downward and becomes 



