89 



After what has been stated, it is scarcely needful 

 to explain the causes of this sudden change of the 

 subsoil from comparative sterility to fertility. 

 Chemical analysis showed that the subsoil contained 

 a far greater proportion of the constituents of 

 inorganic plant-food than the surface -soil ; but the 

 practical results of its cultivation proved their 

 unfitness to serve as such. A year afterwards, 

 however, we observe entirely different results, 

 the subsoil being then the more fertile of the two. 

 It was exposed for a whole year to the action of 

 the weather ; and a portion of the potash, phosphoric 

 acid, silica, &c., was rendered soluble by the 

 disintegrative powers of the climatic influences, 

 and a store of available plant-food thus pre- 

 pared. 



From personal knowledge and from various 

 communications I have received, I am induced to 

 believe that the subsoil of India is very fertile, and 

 contains a most abundant store of inorganic plant- 

 food, especially phosphoric acid, which is the chief 

 element wanted in the surface-soil. The soil has 

 never been stirred or broken up to a greater depth 

 than eight inches indeed, on an average only half 

 that depth so that very little below the surface we 

 find an almost virgin soil, which will become a most 

 important item in restoring the fertility of India's 

 fields. To increase, and even double, the present 

 outturn, it will only be necessary to turn up every 



12 



