X. — Fertilizers on Sandy Soil. — By Prof. H. W. Smith, 



B. Sc, Provincial Afjiicidturnl School, Truro, y. S. 



The soil of the farm for the Provincial School of Agriculture 

 possesses a very fine texture and is of the same constant char- 

 acter throughout the entire farm. It is formed from the red 

 sandstone and was evidently made up in the same way as any 

 sand bank at the side of the mouth of a river opening into the Bay 

 of Fundy. The soil varies from live to thirty feet deep and has 

 underlying it at least one hundred feet of red sandstone rock. 

 How much more is not known. The sub-soil is of the same 

 character as the soil. This sandy soil is very fine, almost an 

 impalpable powder. It is easily tilled, fairly fertile, yielding 

 about twenty bushels of barley cr two hundred and twenty-nine 

 of potatoes per acre, in each case without manure. 



We propose to make a careful investigation of this soil and its 

 relations to plant growth. These investigations will be conduct- 

 ed by some of the students of the School under my directions. 

 At present they are pureued as follows : the analysis of the soil 

 and the effects of fertilizers upon it, by Mr. Trueman, and the 

 relations of plants to the soil by Mr. Moore. It is hoped that 

 by the next session of the Institute a report of progress in this 

 work can be made. In the present paper we will try to point 

 out lines along which our work will lie and some experiments 

 which will enable us to work more intelligently. 



Many experiments have been conducted by investigators upon 

 the characters of soils and their relations to fertilizers and 

 plants. But our conditions are so dift'erent that they aflford us 

 only general information and on many points none. With a 

 climate approaching that of England in rain-fall but very much 

 colder, the valuable experiments of Lawes and Gilbert are scarcely 

 applicable here. Again their experiments were conducted on 

 very fertile soil. Most of our soil would not compare with it. 

 In the same manner, it could lie shown that other experiments 

 iire not applicable for similar reasons. 



This paper then will form a preface to further contriljutions. 



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