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Every attempt to improve the character of the soil must, there- 

 fore, be preceded by a judicious consideration of its mechanical 

 texture, its power of absorbing and retaining water, and its capa- 

 city for heat. Hence it is important that the agricultural chemist 

 should, if possible, himself examine the locality in order fully to 

 estimate the wants of the soil. The employment by every State 

 of an agricultural chemist, who should visit in person every part 

 of the State, is therefore, strongly to be recommended. 



In the next place it is requisite that an analysis of the soil, in 

 order to be of much value should be thorough. It must include sepa- 

 rate estimations of the parts soluble in water and in acids, and the 

 insoluble portion. For the portion soluble in water represents 

 what is available for the wants of the growing crop, while the por- 

 tion soluble in dilute acids, is the index of what may by decomposi- 

 tion become the food of plants. This undecomposed portion of the 

 soil may often, by the application of lime, ashes and other caustic 

 manures, be more speedily decomposed and rendered available. 



The analysis should include also, if possible, the sub-soil as 

 well as the surface soil, in order to guide the farmer in the process 

 of deepening his soil. There are, of late, many advocates of indis- 

 criminate deep ploughing. But a fertile soil may be underlaid by 

 a barren sub-soil, by throwing up large quantities of which the 

 fertility of a field may be destroyed for years. The subsoil, not 

 unfrequently. contains large quantities of protoxide of iron and 

 other substances which are not injurious to vegetation until they 

 have been subjected to the action of the atmosphere. On the other 

 hand, the subsoil often contains elements of fertility which are not 

 so abundant in the surface soil, in which case deep ploughing will 

 improve both. It is important that the agriculturist should know 

 these differences, in order that he may know where he should 

 plough deep and where refrain. 



A still more important consideration is, that no analysis can 

 be of any value to the farmer who is not himself a chemist, unless 

 it be accompanied by a discussion of the indications it affords, and 

 a recommendation of suitable means of improvement. Our agri- 

 cultural journals and reports abound in analyses which are about 

 as intelligible to the unscientific farmer as the inscriptions on the 

 pyramids, or a chapter from La Place's Mechanique Celeste. 

 Most of our intelligent farmers know that lime, phosphoric acid, 



