222 



ON THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF SOILS. 



Chlorine (in common salt) 

 Humus soluble in alkalies 

 Humus 



(A) 

 0.005 

 0-619 

 0-200 



(B) 

 a trace 



100-000 100000 



By manuring the land with wood ashes, the soil is 

 enabled to produce buck-wheat, with rich grain ; the 

 leguminous plants also thrive luxuriantly upon it. 

 This increased fertility is due to the ashes, by means 

 of which both potash and phosphates are supplied to 

 the land. 



10. Subsoil of a loamy, sandy soil, from Brunswick. 

 •It is remarkable for having produced excellent crops 

 of hops for a long series of years. 100 parts, by 

 weight, consist of: — 



100000 



Although the hops contain a large quantity of 

 potash, soda, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, lime, 

 and magnesia, yet we do not find that these exist 

 in the soil in superabundant quantity. Nor is it 

 necessary that they should, for the roots of the hops 

 penetrate 8 or 10 feet deep into the soil, and search 

 out the materials jfitted to nourish the plants. Hence 

 it is that hops thrive well on soils comparatively 

 poor in their proper ingredients. The same is the 

 case with all plants of a similar nature, the roots of 

 which possess a tendency to extend in search of 

 food; we see this particularly in lucern and sainfoin. 



