332 



THE AGRIOULTUBAL JOURNAL. 



is not equal to any required on the Race- 

 course, even to the Grand National itself. 

 For records of wonderful performances 

 accomplished by horses of this breed, I 

 would refer the reader to the first volume 

 of the Hackney Stud Book, as no paper 

 of this kind could do them justice. 



The high forward knee generally looked 

 upon in this country as the chief charac- 

 teristic of the Hackney, I admit, is an 

 abomination, and of no use whatever, and 

 ahorse of this description will quickly 

 develop any of the unsoundnesses to 

 which the fore limbs are addicted, and is 

 of neither use nor ornament. True action 

 should commence at the hock, and not at 

 the knee ; the hocks should be flexed to 



their utmost in the trot, and should be 

 kept well together, the front feet should 

 leave the ground quickly in a direct line 

 with the elbow, and then extended to 

 their utmost limit l)efore they again reach 

 the ground. 



A horse with this kind of action will 

 be found to do his work comfortably, and 

 with far greater ease to himself than in 

 the case of a horse without hock action. 

 An animal of this description can always 

 hd made to display plenty of forward 

 action when necessity requires it, either 

 for Town or Show ring, by driving him 

 to his bridle. 



(lo he continued). 



instructions for tailing Sampies for Anaiysis. 



By Alex. Paedy, F. 

 Soils. 



LOOK over the field and note its size, 

 altitude, and general formation. 

 Note if there is any appreciable differ- 

 ence in the kind of soil. 



Take a th(>roughly clean wheelbarrow, 

 clean sharp spade, a clean sack (preferablv 

 a new one), one or two small wooden 

 boxes or canvas bags, and a notebook. 



If the soil is uniform and does not 

 show any variation, then sub-samples 

 may be taken from four, five, or more 

 places throughout the area, but avoiding 

 heatllands, proximity to roads, trees, and 

 such like, so that a good representative 

 sample from those j^aits which resemble 

 each other, and mix them together, but 

 do not mix two different sorts of soil ; 

 or, better still, samples from each part 

 may be kept quite separate. Should the 

 land 1)6 under crop the sample should be 

 picked midway between two plants. 



, Having selected a spot, pull up any 

 growing plants, and remove all surface 

 vegetation, then dig a hole 2^ to 3 feet 

 deep, cut away the soil so as to leave a 

 block the width of the spade standing 

 out from the side; to the centre of the 

 hole ; pare the sides so that they shall be 

 clean and vertical, place the sack flat 

 down in the hole, then with the spade 



!,S., Agricultural Chemist. 



take a clean vertical cut down and allow 

 the section to fall into the sack. The 

 subsoil is taken in the same way after the 

 topsoil has been removed, and must be 

 kept quite separate. Take a number of 

 s lb-samples in this way, and mix those of 

 a kind thoroughly together in the wheel- 

 barrow, take about lOlbs. of the mixture, 

 parcel it up, number and label it so that 

 it may be referred to again in the report. 



Carefully note down the appearance of 

 the soil and subsoil, the depth at which 

 a change of colour, if any, is observed, 

 and the depths to which roots have pene- 

 trated. If a line of demarcation is not 

 possible between the surface and subsoils, 

 then take the first nine inches as being 

 the surface soil, and from nine inches to 

 two feet as the subsoil ; each sab-sample 

 should be taken to a uniform depth. 



Pack the samples in a wooden box pre- 

 paratory to sending away, and while 

 waiting despatch, see that it doss not lie 

 near a cowshed, stable, or manure heap. 



Address and forward to the Agricul- 

 tural Chemist, Government Laboratory, 

 Berea, Durban. 



Send along with the soil a description 

 and rough plan of the field or fields, 

 showing the spots where the samples were 

 selected, and indicate thereon the slope, 

 aspect and proximity, of a spruit or river. 



