1202 



Canadian Forestry Journal, July, 1917 



Soil Surveys in Nova Scotia 



By L. C. Harlow, b.s.c, b.s.a., 



Chemist, Agricultural College, Truro 



NOVA Scotia has frequently 

 been surveyed. Every rail- 

 road which has been pro- 

 jected was preceded by the sur- 

 veyor who measured, studied and 

 mapped every detail of the proposed 

 course. The geologist has examined 

 the rocks, noting the kind, extent 

 and outcrops, and has put his obser- 

 vations into a geological map which 

 shows rocks characteristic of many 

 geological periods. 



The miner has dotted our maps 

 with various marks to show where 

 the gold, copper and other economic 

 minerals may be found. 



Again the, lumberman has had 

 expert foresters make a map to show 

 the details concerning the hardwood 

 softwood and barren land of the 

 various counties of the province. 



All these are valuable guides for 

 anyone preparing to start mining or 

 lumbering in any locality or in in- 

 dicating our resources. 



It is only reasonable that the farm- 

 er, who must, to quite an extent, 



depend upon what the soil can give 

 him, should have some quite exact 

 information regarding the soil of his 

 farm. The stranger in selecting a 

 farm, should, among other factors, 

 be guided by the type of soil peculiar 

 to that locality. The son who in- 

 herits the homestead should know 

 as near as possible the amount of 

 plant food in every acre of the farm. 



This information a soil survey 

 should provide; it should also fur- 

 nish information regarding the phy- 

 sical condition of the soil, the water 

 supply, drainage and all facts ne- 

 cessary to enable a person to select 

 a farm adapted to any particular 

 type of farming. 



The results of such -study in the 

 United States are now being put 

 into elaborate maps. There the soil 

 chemist, the surveyor and the soil 

 physicist of the Department of Agri- 

 culture at Washington, and the 

 State Department co-operate. No 

 such extensive plan of work as this 

 has been attempted in Nova Scotia. 



Lumbermen's Sons at Vimp Ridge 



\ 



Perry Robinson, war correspondent with the British headquarters m 

 France, has paid a tr bute to the lumbermen's sons who fell at- the great 

 Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge. He says: — 



"On the summit of Vimy Ridge there is a little group of white-paint- 

 ed wooden crosses, marking the graves of the Seaforth Highlanders of 

 Canada, who fell in the capture of the ridge. These Canadian Seaforths 

 were mostly British Columbians. A long, long way they came to die, 

 the long-limbed sons of Victoria, Vancouver, New Westminster and 

 Nanaimo. Some came even farther, for they came from the far off 

 slopes and peaks of the mountains of the upper waters of the Fraser 

 River, when they heard the call." 



"There could be no prouder burial place than this ridge which they 

 won so splendidly. 



"One knowing the British Columbia of bygone days, stops to look 

 at these graves. It is the old British Columbia that leaps to mind with 

 its great reaches of unbroken forest. If one had his way he would plant 

 this Vimy Ridge with trees, brought from British Columbia, and let 

 these men, when the present wooden crosses are replaced by a noble and 

 permanent monument, rest under the shadow of a grove of their own 

 pines, firs and cedars." 



