6 



Twcved it to be admirably suited to tbe growth thereof. The superintendent smiled a grim smile, but, 

 being wise as the serpent, he thanked the Board for the analysis, and had the honour to inform them 

 that the proportion of calle mate" upon the estate was too limited for extensive cultivation. I must 

 not be understood as altogether denying the value of chemical analysis as a means of assisting in the 

 determination of the capabilities of soils ; but I insist that its conclusions, when applied to a larger 

 area than that of the sample actually analysed, are partial in conclusion and likely to be modified, and 

 indeed often entirely changed, by surrounding circumstances, such as drainage, position, permeability, 

 porosity, power of capillary attraction, evaporation of water, absorption of water, absorption of heat, 

 and other physical conditions — a practical knowledge of which should constitute part of the stock-in- 

 trade of every roan having anything to do with the soil, whether he be farmer, gardener, or pastor- 

 alist. And here let me pause to observe that a small text- book on this subject, written in a clear 

 practical style in plain Anglo-Saxon, and without any puzzling tables or chemical formulae, placed in 

 the hands of every State school child in Queensland by the Government, would do more to ensure an 

 intelligent system of farming in the next twenty years than any number of agricultural conferences. 

 The Government of Jamaica have recently offered a prize for such a handbook suitable for their 

 schools. We all know that we often experience much difficulty in forgetting, as wo grow to maturer 

 years, the useless things we learnt at school, in order to make room for that which will serve us in the 

 struggle for existence. Every farmer and other persons engaged in the cultivation of the soil should 

 be able to refer any particular soil to its class, and to approximately determine its component part* 

 and its physical character, and from these its relative fertility, and thus by some settled means the 

 " rule of thumb" method which so many cultivators employ. I had occasion once to m;tke enquiry of 

 a large number of cultivators as to the character of the soil in their respective districts, and the 

 ansvvers I received very forcibly impressed upon me the necessity jf having some standard of compa- 

 rison to which soils could be referred 



Soils have been divided in various ways according to their texture, and to the variety and quan- 

 tity of the substances of which they are composed. The follosving is perhaps one of the be<t of these 

 classifications : — 



1. Argillaceous soils, having over 50 % of clay, and little or no calcareous matter. 



2. Loamy soils, having from 20 °/c to 50 °/o of clay, with some lime. 



3. Sandy soils, having not more than 10 % of clay. 



4. Marly soils, having from 5 °/o to 20 °/o of calcareous matter. 



5. Calcareous soils, having more than 20 °/o of carbonate of lime. 



6. Humus soils, containing a large proportion of vegetable mould. 



The selector or farmer can, by the exercise of a little ingenuity and the aid of the most simple 

 apparatus, decide for himself the class to which his soil belongs. One of the most successful valuers 

 of agricultural land I ever knew used no other apparatus than a glass tube graduated to inches and 

 tenths by means of a paper scale pasted on its outside, and a small flask of muriatic acid. He placed 

 in this tube a quantity of the soil to be examined, mixed it with water, then violently shook the whole 

 up, and allowed it to settle. In a minute or two the coarse sand settles to the bottom, then the finer 

 sand, then the coarser particles of clay, then the lighter and more impalpable particles, and finally the 

 lighter humus or vegetable mould. Distinct rings of these various substances are formed, and their 

 relative proportions can be measured by means of the graduated scale pasted on to the tube. I need 

 scarcely remark that a long, wide mouihed bottle will serve the purpose equally well. A small quan- 

 tity of diluted muriatic acid poured on a small quantity of the soil serves to show if calcareous matter 

 be present, and the amount of effervescence set up serves to indicate iu what quantity it is contained 

 in the soil. 



In examining a soil with a view to determining its permanent value for agricultural purposes, 

 certain physical facts in relation to it should first be ascertained. The first of these is Drain agb. 

 To the Queensland furmer the natural drainage of the land which he may select is an important mat- 

 ter, and likely to become more so in the future. The signs of the times point to the adoption of irriga- 

 tion on a fairly large scale at no very distant date. The tendency of irrigation on lands not drained by 

 nature or by art is to raise the level of the subsoil water, and so bring it, more within the range of the 

 influence of the sun. In countries where the latter is powerful, a iapid evaporation is set up, which 

 produces two effects. In the first place, the evaporation considerably reduces the earth temperature 

 over the area where it takes place ; and in the second place, increasing quantities of saline matters are 

 brought to the surface and deposited there in the same way that salt is obtained in " evaporating 

 pans," only of course in a less degree. This is the cause of what is known in India as " Reh," the 

 name given to a white efflorescence which ha3 appeared on the surface of immense areas of canal irri- 

 gated country, rendering it as sterile as the surface of the Sahara. 



The Subsoil next requires to be examined ; indeed, upon the character of this depends to a great 

 extent the completeness of the drainage. It should be neither so sandy as to part too readily with its 

 moisture, nor yet so retentive as to interfere with free drainage. The requirements of a subsoil in 

 this respect varies greatly with the rainfall of the district iu which the farm is situate, and this is one 

 circumstance which the intelligent cultivator will not fail to take into account. Coming to the surface 

 there is no variety of soil more suited to the requirements of the general agriculturist than that 

 known an loam. When the gardener desires a soil in which his plants will thrive, he directs his efforts 

 to the production of a loam which he often produces by mixing together other soils and substances in 

 the required proportions, just as Dame Nature, with the forces at her command, first wore down the 

 rocks into the more or less comminuted substances of which all soils are composed, and then by meaua 

 of toirent, Btream, river, and sea blended them together into what Wd know as soils. The gardener, 

 too, only takes a lesson from the great book of nature in placing at the hollow of his receptacle for the 



