46 TALK'S ABOUT THE SOIL. 



put the dry soil on it, and let it burn, stirring it occa- 

 sionally as it burns. It will smoke, and slowly smoul- 

 der away to dust and ashes. When it ceases to smoke, 

 and is quite burned up, carefully weigh the ashes. 

 This ash represents the inorganic and sandy parts of 

 the soil. All the organic portions disappeared as 

 smoke. We record the whole experiment in this 

 way : 



8 ounces of fresh soil. 



2 ounces lost in air-drying. 



6 



2 ounces lost in kiln-drying. 



4 



3 ounces lost in burning. 



I ounce of ash, or inorganic matter. 



We can get at the percentages of water and organic 

 and inorganic matter in this way : 



4-8 = 0.124 



Counting out the water, or fifty per cent of the 

 whole, we find that in four ounces of dry soil, three 

 ounces were organic and one ounce inorganic ; or, 



