460 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. 



X. 



No. 2. Soil taken at 15 inches below the surface of the same 

 knoll, contains : 



Moisture 3*2 



Organic matter 6*0 



Lime as carbonate 51*4 



" as phosphate 3*0 



Salts soluble in water 4*6 



Silica, silicates and gravel 31-8 



100-0 



Sample No. 3. Soil taken from 24 inches below surface of 

 same knoll, contains: — 



Moisture 2-0 



Organic matter 4-2 



Carbonate of lime 24 . 



Phosphate of lime 4*6 



Salts, soluble. 10-4 



Silicates and gravel 54 • 8 



100-0 



This shows a favorable condition of the subsoil in regard to 

 phosphates, and the substratum being chiefly gravelly, is excel- 

 lent for drainage. 



These results must not be taken as of extreme accuracy — the 

 ultimate and exact analysis of the elements of a soil being one of 

 the most elaborate and tedious operations in chemistry, and Dr. 

 Hunt has done good service to science in the publication of care- 

 ful results of analysis of the soil and subsoils of the Champlain 

 wheat-exhausted districts, once called the " Granary of New 

 France." I have in the general outline followed his methods of 

 analysis, but not to minutiae, and perhaps he has not seen much 

 reason to modify the opinion he expressed twenty years ago, in 

 the Report of Geol. Survey of Canada for 1863, " that extremely 

 " delicate chemical details would not afford reliable data for agri- 

 " cultural o-uidance." The general nature of a soil and its sub- 

 soil, however, affords a glimpse of its possibilities which may be 

 of great practical value to the cultivator. 



