90 



year a portion of the subsoil (nature doing the 

 rest), which will act as a powerful fertilizer 

 of the now exhausted surface -soils. Thousands of 

 square miles could be treated in this way, the 

 only requisite being a deeper-furrowing instrument 

 than the primitive plough of the ryot. 



The following analysis of a surface and subsoil in 

 Salsette shows the large store of inorganic plant- 

 food still available in the subsoil : 



Surface . 10 inches deep. 



Insoluble Silica 69-26 63'71 



Soluble Silica 2-63 3'96 



Alumina 3'12 3'27 



Iron 6-10 7*15 



Lime 5'36 8'85 



Magnesia 0-02 0'21 



Soda 0-93 1-02 



Potash 1-63 1-89 



Carbonic Acid 7'00 10-36 



Phosphoric Acid 0-13 049 



Sulphuric Acid 063 0-94 



Chlorine 1-20 T32 



Organic matter * 12-09 6'83 



Total. ...100-00 100-00 



It has been asserted that deep-ploughing is 

 unnecessary in India, the reason advanced being 

 that the soil in the lower strata is exposed to the 

 action of the atmospheric air by the deep cracks 

 which in the hot weather intersect the ground 

 in all directions. It is really surprising that 

 such an assertion was ever made, for it should 

 be well known that, in the absence of moisture, 



