LIV. CHEMICAL NATURE OF THE SOILS OF N.S.W. 
much under fifty. The annual sum of $41,600, or about 
£8,320, is appropriated out of the vote for the Department 
for the purposes of this survey, the actual cost of which 
figures out as about $3°50, or 14s. per square mile. In 
addition to the actual survey and plotting out of maps, the 
field-parties are equipped with apparatus for determining, 
electrolytically, the amount of moisture and of saline mat- 
ter in the soils in situ, check samples being taken for 
examination in the laboratory. The results, apart from 
their permanent scientific value, and as a supplement to | 
the geological survey, are probably of less economic value 
to the farmers already in possession than to those who intend 
to purchase land for farming purposes, and who desire 
to know the nature and capabilities of the soil in different 
parts, information which is most strikingly displayed in 
the maps. 
Our Soils.—Turning now to our own figures, we find that 
there are certain peculiarities which distinguish the soils 
from the semi-arid districts from those from other parts of 
the State. 
I.—Comparison of Soils from Semi-Arid Regions of New South Wales 
with other Soils, showing their peculiarities. 
Phos- 
Locality of Soil. sg a! Volatile | Nitrogen.| Lime. |Potash.| phoric 
Water. | Matter. Acid, 
Average of 19 soils from semi-arid ieee 40°0 5'7 08 "44 33 21 
nD 130 9 Co. Cumberland .. ane T°4 14 12 10 12 
A 100 35 Co. Camden ele 40a 11°2 23 11 “10 17 
aa 45 ya Oe Northumberland 45°3 8'2 19 12 10 10 
as 60 75 Richmond River...| 52°0 16°0 30 “21 08 30 
6 tobacco soils from Fiji ...| 56°0 9:0 18 1°34 27 30 
Soil "from a South Pacific Island .. : 45'0 10°7 26 8°45 17 12 
Average of 3 laterite soils from Malaya... 115°0 41°7 64 10 12 15 
1 a 300 Minnesota soils... AS aie 2 igs 217 | :29 *25 
2 a 34 Michigan soils as its an 12 98 | 1°18 25 
3Heavy clay pasture, Surrey, England .. 36 83 15 8°58 20 05 
1 Snyder—Bull. 41, Agr. Expt. Sta. Minnesota. 
2 Report on Michigan Soils—R. C. Kedzie. 
° From P. F. Frankland’s ‘‘Agricultural Chemistry.’’ 
