426 THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



be shown how to w;i.-]i the soil gently 

 away from the root; he will then see what 

 few farmers ever tliink of seeing, namely, 

 the whole root syj^tem of the plant. He 

 may he allowed to tear up a plant by the 

 root, and contrast the few torn shreds of 

 roots with the ample ramificatinu of the 

 coihplete root system. Such an experi- 

 ment would be an early exercise for the 

 child in observing the difference between 

 the surface appearance of things and 

 their real nature. Having seen liow tlio 

 l)lants in the shallow boxes, with the 

 cramped feeding ground, have but a 

 stunted growth, and how the others, with 

 an ample depth of soil, send their roots 

 (h)\\n to flic lowest depths and thrive 

 luxuriantly, the pupil will gain ideas as 

 to how plants feed, which he never can 

 forget, and wliicli, in later life, will en- 

 able iiim insf inctivel}' to comprehend 

 some of the ju inciples which underlie the 

 proper cultivation of the soil. 



Such simple, experiments will, in the 

 hands of a capable teacher, be found to 

 bri-tlc with matter which can be used for 

 both mental and manual education. 



At a later period the child may be al- 

 lowed to carry out simple examinations 

 of soils. With water and a number of 

 bottles he may he taught to h'xivato soils 

 and divide them into floating vcgetalde 

 matter, suspended clay, slowly-settling 

 line sand, rapidly-settling coarse sand, 

 and gravel or stones; and thus, at one 

 lesson, be familiarised with the principle 

 of lixiviation, and with the mechanical 

 composition of soils. He may then, 

 with the aid of glass tubes containing 

 soils, carry out some simple experiment 

 and observations on the movement of 

 water in soils. T am probably correct in 

 stating that the proper management of 

 soil-moisture is the first factor of success- 

 ful agriculture over the greater part of 

 Australia, and there is no factor which is 

 more generally misunderstood. By 

 means of simple experiments with soils 

 in glass tubes, as described in my pub- 

 lished lectures on "Soils and their Culti- 

 vation," a child may be given an exercise 

 in experimental manipulation, and in ob- 

 servation, and Tiiay learn incidentally 

 about porosity, caijillarity, filtration, anrl 

 evaporation, while at the same time he 

 would be gaining a knowledge of facts 



concerning the regulation of soil moisture 

 which are of primary value to an agricul- 

 tural country. 



Afterwards the pupil might begin to 

 learn by actual observation something 

 about the composition of plants. He 

 might take a fresh plant and weigh it; 

 then dry it in an oven — a "Primus" stove 

 oven would do very well or perhaps still 

 better, a small "billy" placed inside a 

 larger "billy," with water between, and 

 suspended Oiver a fire — and afterwards 

 weigh the dry plant. Subsequently he 

 could burn the dried plant to a white ash, 

 and v/eigh the ash. He could then be 

 allowed to calculate the percentage 

 amount of water, burnable matter, and 

 ash in the ]>lant. The child in this ex- 

 periment would get its first exercise in 

 analysis, and besides learning the prepon- 

 derating importance of water in the plant 

 — and for the matter of that, in all ter- 

 restrial living matter — would be intro- 

 duced to a study of the phenomenon of 

 coml)Ustion, and would have an arthe- 

 metical exercise, and also an illustration 

 of the value of tlie decimal system. The 

 children could also compete amongst 

 themselves to see which could carry out 

 the simple analysis most accurately, and 

 would thus ])e shown the difference be- 

 tween correct and incorrect experiment. 

 The pupils could aftci'wards take the ash, 

 stir it up with water, filter, test the clear 

 filtrate with litmus paper, and learn the 

 cause of the alkalinitv; they could then 

 ]iour acid on the undissolved portion of 

 the ash, and have explained to them the 

 cause of the effervescence. Thus they 

 would learn something of the nature of 

 the ash. 



Next they could be allowed to sow 

 seed in four pots, one containing pure 

 sand, another containing sand mixed 

 with plant ash, a third containing sand 

 mixed with a nitrogen compound, and a 

 fourth containing l)oth plant ash and 

 nitrogen compound. Onlv in the fourth 

 pot would there be successful growth, and 

 l)y this simple experiment the children 

 ■would learn a fact of fundamental impor- 

 tance to agricidture which was first dis- 

 closed among scientific men only by 

 much research, and is but now filterinii 

 down to the masses of practical agricul- 

 turists. 



