FARM LANDS 01 NEW SOI Til WALKS. .)."> 



probable that the injurious effects noticed when the compounds under dis- 

 cussion are present are due less to the substances themselves than to the 

 conditions under which they are produced. 



The treatment of soil in which these substances are present is the same as 

 in the case of our soils — cultivation, liming', and draining. 



Alkalinity. 



The reverse condition to that of sourness, and one equally injurious to 

 plant life, is the presence of alkali in the soil. As far as New South Wales 

 is concerned this alkalinity is due to the presence of carbonate of soda, and 





A "bare patch" in Mature Wheat at Coolabah Experiment Farm. 



is almost exclusively associated with the use of bore water; naturally 

 occurring alkali soils such as are found in other parts of the world are 

 practically non-existent. 



The continued use of bore water, especially when used to flood the land, 

 and on dry land which is level and has no adequate natural or artificial sys- 

 tem of drainage, results in the accumulation on the surface soil, as the water 

 evaporates, of a white incrustation of carbonate of soda. This substance 

 (alkali) acts injuriously in several ways. It corrodes the stem or crown of 

 the plant or tree with which it comes in contact at the surface; it dissolves 

 out the humus or vegetable matter of the soil, and it combines with the clay, 

 forming a substance which is extremely slimy and sticky when wet, and 

 which dries to a hard mass which it is almost impossible to break up with 

 any agricultural implement. On drying, the surface contracts and opens out 

 in cracks, thus damaging the roots of the crops. 



