EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



361 



A word of explanation in regard to the meaning of the tables of analysis 

 may be proper. To any one not familiar with agricultural chemistry, such 

 tables will appear very dry and uninteresting, or even unintelligible. In 

 these tables sand and silicates, alumina, and oxide of iron make much the 

 largest part of most soils. Everyone is familiar with sand; alumina is the 

 basis of clay, and oxide of iron gives the brownish color to most soils. The 

 great bulk of nearly all soils is made up of sand, clay, and oxide of iron. 

 Alumina is never found in the ash of cultivated plants; a certain amount 

 of silica and oxide of iron is found in the ash of all plants; but the great 

 mass of these materials as found in the soil is in large excess of the 

 demands of the plant, and is of no worth in the chemistry of plant life; 

 they are the mechanical agents of the soil, and are of worth mainly from 

 their relations to temperature, moisture,' and the mechanical support of 

 plants; their chief office in the soil is physical and not chemical, rendering 

 the soil light or heavy, porous or retentive. The organic matter of the 

 soil, besides furnishing a supply of combined nitrogen, is valuable for its 

 physical relations to temperature, moisture, and porosity of soils, and 

 because it is an active agent in securing chemical changes in the soil, 

 bringing the reserve elements of -plant growth into active form. 



The numbers attached to the following analyses refer to sample 

 bottles of soils placed in the exhibit of the experiment station of the 

 Michigan Agricultural college in the World's Fair, and to coresponding 

 sample bottles in the Michigan state exhibit in Agricultural hall and 

 one other set of such bottles at the Michigan Agricultural college. By 

 referring to these sample bottles the reader can find the soils as well as 

 learn their chemical composition. 



I. Wheat Lands. Nos. 1 to 9. 



A large part of the soils of Michigan are well fitted for the growth of 

 winter wheat, and it might seem invidious to select any portion as wheat 

 lands in particular, but the four southern tiers of counties are so specially 

 adapted to this crop that they may be called the wheat belt. 



No. 1.— River Raisin Bottoms, Deerfield, 

 Lenawee, County. 



Selected by Geo. H. Kedzie. 



Forest Growth: Aeh, Basswood. Hickory, 



Black Walnut, Oak, etc. 

 Soil cultivated forty years, without 



manure. 



Sand and silicates .58.17 



Alumina 6.48 



Oxide of iron 7.62 



Lime 1.98 



Magnesia 1.43 



Potash 1.84 



Soda 1.20 



Sulphuric acid ..32 



Phosphoric acid .40 



Organic matter containing .42 



Nitrogen. 10.97 



Water 9.45 



Capillary capacity for water, 65.60 

 46 



No. 2. — River Raisin Bottoms, Deerfield, 

 Lenawee Co. 



Selected by Geo H. Kedzie. 

 Virgin soil. 



Timber: Ash. Basswood, Black Walnut, 

 Oak, etc. 



Sand and silicates 62.42 



Alumina 10.64 



Oxide of iron 3.46 



Lime 2.10 



Magnesia 1.59 



Potash 2.05 



Soda 1.19 



Sulphuric acid .24 



Phosphoric acid .41 



Organic matter containing .37 



Nitrogen 9.39 



Water 6.08 



» 



Capillary capacity for water, 61.20 



