THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



277 



THE ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 

 Dr. Sturtevant, who is the Director 

 of the New York Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, thus replies to inquiries 

 :is to whether the station undertakes 

 the analysis of soils, setting forth the 

 reason why the station does not under 

 take soil analysis. 



A cubic foot of soil in the average 

 condition of moisture weighs from 70 

 to 100 pounds. The soil taken ten in- 

 ches deep from an acre of land would 

 therefore weigh about 3,000, 000 pound.s. 

 For the purpose of analysis, in the 

 ordinaiy method, about 1-10 of an 

 ounce of this soil would be taken, and 

 this represents about 1-480,000,000 

 part of an acre. 



If one ton of superphosphate, con- 

 taining ten per cent, of phosphoric acid, 

 were thoroughly mixed with the upper 

 ten inches of an acre of soil we should 

 have added 200 pounds of phosphoric 

 acid to 3,000,000 pounds of soil, or one 

 jmrt to 15,000 ; that is to say, that each 

 1.5,000 pounds of soil would contain 

 one pound of the added phosphoric acid. 

 A>s but 1-10 of an ounce of this would 

 be used for analysis, this 1-10 of an 

 ounce would contain but 1-15,000 added 

 parts of phosphoric acid, and this pro- 

 portion would be represented by the 

 percentage figures 00.0066, or .0000066 

 of an ounce. 



This will be better understood if we 

 i-erpeatthat in percentage figures it would 

 require the addition of over 300 pounds 

 of the superphosphate to the acre to 

 change the third decimal figure of the 

 analysis by a unit. The corollary of 

 this is that as the chemist rarely works 

 in this class of analyses beyond the 

 second decimal figure, the addition of an 

 ordinary fertilization, or that sufficient 

 to make the ditference between a good 

 and bad crop, would not be detected. 



We can moreover state the practical 

 improbability of taking two samples of 



soil from difierent places in the same 

 field which would analyze alike within 

 even the second decimal figure. 



In the beginning of the application 

 of science to agriculture, the public 

 attention was strongly attracted by 

 the theory that a chemical analysis 

 of soil was about to ofi'er a sure means 

 for determining definitely the condi- 

 tion and the needs of our soils, and 

 various charlatans disseminated the 

 idea, of this possibility for i)urpo8e8 of 

 their own, in order to secure the privi- 

 lege of prescribing and furnishing the 

 diet required for each field of the farm. 



At the present time it is universally 

 recognized by men of scientific training 

 that the analysis of the soil for the pur- 

 poses of the individual farmer can ofier 

 no solution to the problem of what fer- 

 tilizer or how much to apply. 



PROFESSOR TANNER'S REPORT. 



This report just submitted to the 

 Council of the Institute of Agriculture, 

 England, states that the Proiessor 

 traveled fully 5000 miles within C!ana- 

 dian Territory and that throughout the 

 whole of his tour he found those set- 

 tled upon the lands, prosperous, healthy 

 and happy. He goes on to say, *' after 

 conversing freely with large numbei-s 

 of these settlers, I am able to state 

 that I did not meet with a single in- 

 stance in which they were not fairly 

 successful, contented, and full of hope 

 for the future. They worked hard, it 

 is true, but that labour was sweetened 

 by the knowledge that they were im- 

 proving their own property. Their per- 

 sonal requirements were easily pro- 

 vided for by the aid of a rich and i)ro- 

 ductive soil, their families were grow- 

 ing up around them in the enjoyment 

 of health, and without any anxiety 

 being felt as to their future success in 

 life. In speaking of Canada as I have 

 done, I must not be supposed to repre- 



