Soils and Soil-formers.] SUBANTARCTIC ' ISLANDS OP NEW ZEALAND. 



749 



Mendelecff (7) gives the following two analyses on air-dried soil : — 



Na,0 

 K2O 

 MgO 

 CaO 



P2O5 



N .. 

 S .. 

 ^6303 



The black earth has been exhausted by 



Black Earth 

 from Seimbirsk. 

 Per Cent. 

 0-11 

 0-58 

 0-92 

 1-34 

 0-07 

 0-44 

 0-13 

 3-41 



Peaty Soil near 



St. Petersburg. 



Per Cent. 



0-04 



0-05 



0-07 



0-11 



0-03 



0-16 



0-06 



0-46 



cultivation, a cause which accounts for the 

 extremely low amount of phosphoric acid present. 



Ganong(15), remarking that the flora of American raised bogs is, on the whole, 

 very similar to the hochmoor of Europe, quotes Drude(41), who gives the analyses 

 of hochmoor and fiatmoor peats : — 



Chiemsee 

 Hochmoor. 

 Per Cent. 

 N .. .. .. .. .. 0-138 



0-024 



K2O 



CaO 

 MgO 

 P2O5 

 The humus or 

 by Persons (22) 



0-172 

 0-034 

 0-206 



Chiemsee 

 Fiatmoor. 

 Per Cent. 

 0-269 

 0-052 

 3-267 

 0-092 

 0-320 



muck " soils of the Florida Peninsula, U.S.A., are described 

 They are formed in partially submerged swamps either from the 

 remains of laurel or bay-tree, or from Cladium effusimt, Nymfhaea flava, Panicum 

 Curtisii, Pontederia cordata, Cyperus sp., Osmunda sp., Malva sp., Andropogon sp., 

 Saggitaria sp. — all plants considerably higher in the vegetable kingdom than mosses. 

 A number of complete analyses by Dr. H. W. Wiley are given, which show that 

 these soils contain from 3 to 60 per cent, of inorganic matter. Those low in in- 

 organic matter (3 to 6 per cent.) contain* from 0-01 to 0-1 per cent, potash, 0-08 

 to 0-3 per cent, soda, trace to 1-7 per cent, lime, trace to 0-28 per cent, 

 magnesia, and trace to 0-115 per cent, phosphoric anhydride. The nitrogen varied 

 from 2-74 per cent, at the surface foot to 3 per cent, at the second foot, 2-76 

 per cent, at the third foot, and 1-01 per cent, at the fourth foot. It was found 

 that the nitrogen varied regularly with the volatile matter. Organic matter was 

 greater at depths of 2 ft. and 3 ft. than at the surface. 



These soils are, therefore, considerably lower than the Auckland Island soils in 

 mineral plant-food, except lime in the case of saw-grass [Cladium effusum) humus. 

 In other Florida humus soils the lime is present only as traces. 



Taylor (33), in five samples of Indiana peat, found the nitrogen range from 

 2-22 to 3-9 per cent., the P20g from 0-96 to 1-9 per cent., and the KgO from 0-82 

 to 1-56 per cent. 



Presumably soluble in hydrochloric acid. 



