ON THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF SOILS. 227 



this salt. Hence it is that sainfoin will not thrive 

 on this soil, nor indeed lucern, or any other of the 

 plants with deep roots. The evil cannot be obviated 

 by any methods sufficiently economical for the far- 

 mer, because the soil cannot be mixed with lime at a 

 depth of five or six feet. For many years experi- 

 ments have been made in vain, in order to adapt this 

 soil for sainfoin and lucern, and much expense in- 

 curred, which could all have been saved, had the 

 soil been previously analyzed. This example affords 

 a most convincing proof of the importance of chemi- 

 cal knowledge to an agriculturist. 



15. Surface-soil (A) of a sandy loam in the vicini- 

 ty of Brunswick, celebrated for its beautiful crops 

 of clover, rye, potatoes, and barley. The clover 

 must, however, always be manured with gypsum. 

 (B) is an analysis of the subsoil at the depth of 1| 

 foot. 100 parts contain : — 



(A) (B) 



Silica with coarse siliceous sand . . 94-274 95146 



Alumina 1-560 1416 



Peroxide of iron with a little phosphoric acid 2*496 2-528 



Peroxide of manganese .... 0*240 0320 



Lime 0*400 297 



Magnesia 0-230 221 



Potash and soda . . . . . 0102 060 



Sulphuric acid 0*039 0*012 



Chlorine 0-005 a trace 



Humus soluble in alkaline carbonates . 0*444 . . . 



Humus 0-210 . . . 



100-000 100-000 



The best property of this soil is, that its inferior 

 layers are nearly of the same composition as the 

 superior, as far as the inorganic constituents are 

 concerned. It is a soil upon which the plants 

 mentioned above will seldom fail ; and as it posses- 

 ses a very good mixture to the depth of four or five 

 feet, it would, doubtless, produce lucern also. 



16. Surface-soil (A) of a sandy loam in the vicinity 

 of Brunswick. It produces excellent crops of oats 

 and clover, when the latter is manured with gypsum. 



