53 



Albert soils analysed. They all contain a satisfactory proportion of pot-ash, 

 and a fair amount of phosphoric oxide. No. 4 is well supplied with 

 nitrogen and lime, and all the others have fair percentages of nitrogen. 

 Lime is the only element of plant food that can be described as actually- 

 lacking iri any of these soils; in this respect the soils represented by 

 samples 1, 2, and 5 were defective. 



ELLIOT-SLANG RIVER. 



(Privately collected.) 



No. Field Cornetcy. Farm or place. Collector. 



1. Lutha. S. L. Hart. 



o 



*' 



>j 



4. Ettrick. W. F. Beadon, 



Three samples of soil taken at Lutha, in the Elliot District, midway 

 between Elliot and Indwe, were analysed. In the valleys the surface soil 

 is usually black, with a pot-clay subsoil commencing about twelve inches 

 below the surface : this black surface soil is represented by No. 2. On the 

 hill-sides the soil is either light and sandy, or deep red, according as the> 

 ledges above consist of sandstone or ironstone. Samples of both these 

 types of soil were collected. No. 1 on the list was a fine sandy soil col- 

 lected from a hill ; practical experience had found it fairly good, when- 

 fertilisers were applied* but the deep red soil of which No. 3 was a 

 specimen is said to be the best. The subsoil, in both cases, is a clay, com- 

 mencing from one to ten feet below the surface. Most of the cultivated 

 farm lands are on the hills ; the soil there is cooler, more retentive of 

 moisture, and stands drought better. The valleys provide heavier crops 

 during good seasons, but the valley soils, being very shallow, need frequent 

 rains if a fair crop is to be ensured. Where available, the alluvial de- 

 posits of old river beds are best of all. As for the valley soils, it has been 

 found necessary to abandon them for cereal crops, and devote them to 

 lucerne, as the continual ploughing and heavy rain storms denude them 

 very rapidly and form large " sloots," a condition which does not result in. 

 the higher and sandier localities. 



It may be remarked that the geological formations in the neighbour- 

 hood of Ida ('Mbokotwa Commonage), near to which the farm whence 

 these samples were taken is situated, belong principally to- the Stormberg 

 series ; that is to say, they are chiefly composed of Molteno sandstones, 

 and of red beds resembling the Burghersdorp beds. TTie former are natur- 

 ally poor in plant food, and the first sample on the list is a type hereof; 

 the Red Beds, on the other hand, have a better reputation, while the 

 dykes of dolerite which intersect in the sandstones, would also tend to im- 

 prove the soil by the addition of lime. 



Another sample of soil was taken from dry agricultural lands on the 

 farm Ettrick, and represented fairly the soil in the neighbourhood, on 

 which, it is said, nothing will grow. Chemical analysis shows it to be 

 practically as poor as the sample of sandy soil from Lutha, and thus fully 

 confirms the agriculturists' views. 



*Cbeuncal analysis shows the natural condition of the soil to be poor all round 



