Chemical Work in Canadian Agriculture. 33 



Another class of soils in British Columbia are the upper 

 " bench " soils. Those analysed have been of a light and sandy 

 character, considerably inferior to the soil just referred to as re- 

 gards plant food, but, nevertheless, owing to the extremely 

 favourably climatic conditions that prevail, have proved them- 

 selves to be capable of producing good and profitable yields. 



British Columbia also possesses in many of her valleys areas 

 of mucky soils, essentially rich in organic matter and nitrogen. 

 These with proper treatment are exceedingly productive and 

 eventually will prove of great value for the growing of most of 

 our farm crops. 



Concerning the soils of the North- West Territories, I can 

 state that most of those samples examined have been found to 

 contain large amounts of plant food. Even soils from the areas 

 affected by the deleterious presence of alkali for the most part 

 contain all the necessary elements for productiveness, and only 

 await the proper treatment of drainage and the application 

 of certain chemicals to make them fertile in a high degree. 



The prairie soil of Manitoba constitutes a real mine of 

 plant food. A sample examined from the Red River valley, a 

 black loam more than two feet in depth, was of a very high 

 order, possessing remarkable amounts of all those materials 

 which crops require, and ranking as pre-eminent from both a 

 chemical and mechanical standpoint. From the analysis, I 

 calculated that an area of one acre to the depth of one foot, 

 contained, approximately: Nitrogen, 33,145 lbs ; Potash, 33,950 

 lbs ; Phosphoric acid, 9,450 lbs. When we compare these 

 amounts with those present in average fertile soils, viz: Nitrogen, 

 3,500 lbs ; Potash, 7,000 lbs; Phosphoric acid 6,000 lbs., the 

 great agricultural value and possibilities of this prairie soil will 

 be obvious. 



Both the North- West Territories and Manitoba are justly 

 noted as grain growing areas and more especially for producing 

 large yields of wheat rich in gluten and of excellent milling 

 qualities. The magnificent soil of these districts has been one 

 of the chief factors in bringing about this result. Our farmers 



