No. 144.] 129 



two parcels of 200 grains ea(5h are weighed, the one you placed 

 in the hot oven loses fifty grains of water, and the other one de- 

 posits sixty grains of sand ; the 200 grains of wet soil are equal 

 to 1 50 grains of diiy, and the 1 50 of dry soil contains 60 per cent 

 of sand, or 40 in 10() — 40 per cent. You would then call it a 

 loamy soil. In marly soils in which the proportion of lime does 

 not exceed 20 per cent of the whole weight of the dry soil, the 

 marl is loamy, clay or sandy, according to the proportion of clay 

 it contains. 



In calcareous soils, if the lime exceeds 20 per cent they become 

 calcareous loams, clays or sands, according to the proportion of 

 clay and sand in them. 



If you wish to determine ihe quantity of vegetable matter in a 

 soil, dry it perfectly in an oven and weigh it ; then heat it to 

 redness, and burn away the combustible substances and weigh it 

 again. The quantity lost is the organic matter. 



We have a surface and a subsoil. The first is formed by the 

 growth and death of plants, and thus enriched becomes dark in 

 proportion to the quantity of vegetable matter contained. The 

 subsoil, into which the roots of plants rarely penetrate, though 

 not discolored, nevertheless contains vegetable or organic matter, 

 carried into it by water, and would materially advance the growth 

 of plants if it were ventilated, or, what is still better, subsoil 

 plowed. 



Mr. James F. W. Johnston, to whom I am indebted for much 

 information, says : " A soil to be fertile must contain all the sub- 

 stances which the plant we desire to grow can only obtain from 

 the soil, and in such abundance as readily to supply all its wants, 

 while, at the same time, it must contain nothing hurtful to vege- 

 table life." If agriculturists could have their soils analyzed, they 

 would save themselves in many instances large sums of money, 

 and realize handsome profits. I have known gentlemen to ad- 

 minister to land considerable portions of gypsum, bone earth and 

 salt without success, and afterwards, upon having an alalysis 



[Assembly No. 144. J I 



