1900] Shutt — Soils. 45 



year lose, it is stated, more nitrog^en by this humus oxidation than is 

 removed in the crop, and this loss is greatest in those soils 

 which are richest in nitrogen. At the Minnesota Experiment Sta- 

 tion it was determined that for every 25 pounds of nitrogen ab- 

 sorbed by the crop (grain following grain for a number of years) 

 146 pounds of nitrogen were lost, due to oxidation of organic 

 matter. 



These facts are of the widest importance and worthy of study 

 by our farmers not only in the older provinces, but also in those 

 Western areas which to-day are overlaid by such phenomenally 

 fine soils. 



During the past twelve years a great maiiy Canadian soils — 

 both virgin and cultivated — have been examined in the laboratories 

 of the Experimental Farms. VVe have placed on record in our 

 reports complete analyses of over one hundred samples, and data 

 of a more or less incomplete character respecting many more. 

 The soils^ examined are representative of many districts 

 and large areas in all the provinces of the Dominion,* but we can- 

 not now discuss the data of these analyses in detail. It must 

 suffice to say that judged by the standards accepted by agricul- 

 tural chemists we find many soils in Canada fully as rich in plant 

 food as the most fertile soils of any part of the world. I refer now 

 particularly to soils over large areas in Manitoba and the North- 

 west Territories — quite the equal, as shown by analysis, of the 

 renowned black soil of Russia. In all the other provinces there 

 are virgin soils of more than average fertility, comparing most 

 favourably with those of other countries. As is only natural to 

 expect, there are areas also of poor, impoverished soils. 



It is well to have some idea of the amounts of plant food con- 

 tained in an acre of soil, taken, say, to a depth of eight inches, a 

 quantity that would weigh in the neighbourhood of 2,500,000 lbs. 

 From data obtained in the Experimental Farm laboratories, I 

 estimate our soils of extreme richness will contain from 10,000 to 

 20,000 lbs. of nitrogen, from 15,000 to 25,000 lbs. of potash, and 



In the year 1897 a paper giving the results of our soil work to date was 

 presented to the Chemical Section of the British Association. It appears 

 171 extenso in the Report of the Chemical Division of the Experimental Farms, 

 1897. 



