6o The Ottawa Naturalist. 



Garden, in which there were included, at the end of 1895, 935 

 species and varieties of trees and shrubs and 863 of herbaceous 

 perennials. This fine collection of trees, shrubs and plants is 

 fast becoming one of the most attractive features of the Farm 

 and will, in the future, be a most valuable aid to botanists as a 

 collection for reference, and at the same time will attract the 

 attention of all others interested in this usefvl line of work. 



The Ninth Annual Report of the Chemist to the 

 Dominion Experimental Farms, Mr. Frank T. 

 Shutt, M.A., F.I.C., F.C.S. 



The first chapter of this report is devoted to a consider- 

 ation of certain virgin soils from the Province of British 

 Columbia. The analytical data, presented in tabular form, are 

 very complete, showing not only the total amounts of plant 

 food constituents in the soils, but also the proportions of these 

 which may be regarded as more or less innnediatdy available for 

 crop use. These latter determinations were made according to 

 the method of Dr. Dyer, an eminent English agricultural chemist, 

 and in soil investigations they mark a distinct step in ad- 

 vance of previous work. We infer that it is not only possible 

 by chemical means to ascertain approximately the relative rich- 

 ness as regards the total amounts of the essential elements of 

 fertility in a soil, but that the relative amounts of these that can 

 be at once acted upon by exudations of plant rootlets, may be 

 determined. Such information must prove valuable in suggest- 

 ing economic and effective methods of soil fertilization. 



The details regarding the soils here reported upon cannot 

 now be discussed, but will be found of interest to readers who 

 are wishful to learn somewhat of the character of the untouched 

 soils of our far-west province. This chapter besides diagnosing 



