SELECTING AND CLASSIFYING LAND. 27 



country. These men have treated their land, usually from 

 the outset, with consideration and judgment. The effects 

 of skill are very clearly defined in many quarters. There 

 is grazing land to-day which is as good, possibly better, 

 than it was fifty years ago ; and farms, orchards, and 

 vineyards which have improved in quality and condition 

 of soil by the system of treatment and cropping followed. 

 We can hope that the better system is to extend from this 

 time forward. 



The entire agriculture experience of the country goes 

 to prove that very much the same processes of soil treat- 

 ment, selection of seeds and plants, and their feeding and 

 cultivation, according to the best methods, yield results 

 here on much the same terms as in other countries. 



Fire \ and Water Tests for Soils.* Two diagram 

 sketches are given illustrative of how soils can be tested. 



In the first, a weighed 

 ^^^^^^f^f^ portion of dry soil, usually 

 1000 grains, is being tested 

 by tire. The operation is 

 best performed in a calcin- 

 ing dish (cost Is. 6d.), which 

 withstands the heat of a 

 Bunsen burner, or a spirit 

 lamp, until all the vegetable 

 matter is incinerated or 

 burnt out. Or the operation 



<n be < rri OUt O11 a 



F.re Test For Boil. Ice. 



of iron, as shown. When 



complete, the soil is reweighed. The difference shows the 

 (|uuntity of organic matter, with moisture (even from 

 air-dried soil) which was in it. Anything over eight parts 

 of the 100, expelled by heat, shows such proportion of 

 vegetable matter as indicates a soil of good quality in that 

 respect. By reference to the various analyses and the 

 accompanying notes, the value of this test will be still 

 more apparent. 



From "Helpful Chemistry for A*rioulturMt," 4s.. from the publishers of this 

 work, and all booksellers. Methods of testing soils, manures, waUr, milk, &c.. *c. 

 are (riven iu detail in " Helpful Cueaisjtry." 



