420 Forestry Quarterly. 



and Experimental Union. Ontario Department of Agriculture, 

 1909. 



This report embraces the result of information gathered by cor- 

 respondence regarding the extent and productivity of Ontario 

 swamp soils, the result of soil analyses and of field and pot ex- 

 periments with fertilizers. 



In the writer's opinion swamp lands with clay subsoil are more 

 common in Ontario than those with a sand subsoil. In general 

 the former produce good crops, while the latter and those where 

 decomposition has not progressed sufficiently to form a soil that 

 will hold water after tile-draining, do not. 



The forty-four analyses showed that those with sandy sub- 

 soils contained a lower percentage of the mineral food constitu- 

 ents, especially potassium and phosphorus, than the others; but 

 that on the whole the non-productiveness of Ontario swamp soils 

 could not be ascribed to lack of mineral food. Fertilizer experi- 

 ments on deficient soils, with potash, however, did show increased 

 yields, while the addition of lime and phosphoric acid made little 

 change. So far, however, results are meager, owing to the diffi- 

 culties incident to co-operative work, in this case especially to get • 

 the experimenters to drain their plots sufficiently. 



The writer suggests that the reason for the non-productiveness 

 is to be found in the nature of the humus, analyses indicating 

 that its decomposition does not take place rapidly enough to 

 keep vegetable growth supplied with food. Pot experiments in 

 innoculation with germs to hasten this decomposition, garden 

 lawn and farmyard manure being used, showed increased growth, 

 indicating the probability of this explanation. Co-operative field 

 experiments in such inoculation have not so far been tried. 



J. H. W. 



Fourteenth Annual Report of the Forestry Commissioner of 

 Minnesota, for 1908. 



This report gives the text of several important additions to the 

 forest laws. Following a season of drought and severe fires, an 

 effort has been made to improve the machinery of the fire law. 

 The reported damage from fire was $2,000,000 of which $1,- 

 500,000 was caused by the destruction of the mining town of 

 Chisholm. 



