PREFATORY NOTE. 



The investigations into the nature and composition, from an agricul- 

 tural point of view, of the soils of the Cape Colony, suggested and initiated 

 by the writer and carried on in the Government Analytical Laboratory 

 under his direction, constitute the only work of the character ever under- 

 taken in this country. Previously to their commencement a few isolated 

 analyses of Colonial soils had been made, some by Professor Halm amongst 

 which are those quoted on page 124 and some by the writer himself, but 

 these were scanty and disconnected. Never before had any systematic investi- 

 gational work of the kind here recorded been attempted. Even now, having 

 regard to the Colony's vast extent, the number of soils examined is all too 

 small, but the work has now reached a stage from which it is well to pause 

 and look back before proceeding further. The results hitherto obtained 

 are therefore collated here in the hope that the utility of the work may 

 thus be established and a desire created for its continuance and extension. 



C. F. J. 



Government Analytical Laboratory, 



Cape Town, 12th November, 1907. 



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