method was suggested by A. Wood Bey, the Director of the Land 

 Reclamation Section of the State Domains Administration. The 

 arrangement worked quite well in this particular instance where the 

 soil was damp and of a heavy nature. It would probably not answer 

 in dry or sandy soils. In such cases it would be difficult to obtain 

 a satisfactory bore, and it is possible that the tube would not retain 

 the sample long enough to allow of its being brought to the surface. 



The actual work of taking the samples was performed by members 

 of the State Domains staff under the direction of Mr. C. F. O'Keefe. 

 After partial drying the samples were despatched in batches of ten to 

 twenty to the Chemical Laboratory for examination. On reaching the 

 Laboratory the samples were further dried in the sun, the lumps being 

 gradually reduced in size during the process of drying. This was 

 continued until the soil was dry enough to be rubbed down with a 

 wooden pestle. A small quantity was then dried at 100 C. and 

 from this portions were taken for examination. 



For the mechanical analysis 5 grammes of the soil were treated 

 with 100 c.c. of a 0-1 per cent solution of sodium carbonate and boiled 

 for fifteen minutes. This mixture was then transferred to a beaker of 

 tall form and the level of the liquid brought to a height of ten centi- 

 metres by the addition of water. After thorough stirring the 

 suspension was allowed to rest 1\ minutes, after which time the 

 turbid liquid was poured off ; this was thrice repeated, after which 

 the residue was dried on the water bath, rubbed down with a soft 

 camel hair brush and sedimented as before, repeating the process 

 till the water was clear after standing 1\ minutes. The residue 

 from which the silt and clay had thus been removed was washed 

 upon a "100 " sieve (i.e. a fine wire sieve the openings of which are 

 approximately 0-01 inch square). The portion not passing the sieve 

 was dried and weighed, this is the coarse sand. The portion 

 passing the " 100 " sieve was also dried and weighed. This is the 

 fine sand. These two weights were then calculated to percentages 

 of the original sample. The percentage amount of soluble matter is 

 added to the sum of the percentages of coarse and fine sand : this 

 total, subtracted from 100, gives the percentage of silt and clay in 

 the sample. Owing to the large number of samples it was impossible 

 to separate the silt and clay, as this necessitates six or more sedi- 

 mentations each of twenty -four hours' duration. For many purposes 

 this is not of much practical importance, as in soils containing so large 

 a proportion of clay, as most of the samples from this area showed, 

 the presence of ten to twenty per cent more or less of silt would have 

 but little effect upon the permeability of the soil. 



It was at once noticed that the soils of this area contained very 

 little carbonate of lime, and moreover the small amount present was 



