278 



Journal of Agriculture, \ictoria. [lo May. 1912. 



The Soils. 



The first experiment uses one sample of sandy soil from the Horticul- 

 tural School, Burnley. The second experiments employ a medium clay soil 

 from the same place in addition. In preparation the air-dry soils were 

 put through a 2 mm. sieve. The mechanical analyses of the prepared 

 soils were as follow : — 



Table II. 



The clay soil contains a higher percentage of the finer particles, and 

 inferentially a larger superficial area of soil grains. One would expect 

 therefore that an equal quantity of water would be further spread out 

 and form a thinner film in the clay than in the sand, and be less available 

 for the purpose of nitrification. As will be seen later, this result was ob- 

 tained. The higher percentage of water in the clav analysis is con- 

 nected with the same cause. 



The chemical analyses of the soils were as follow : — 



Table III. 



