August, 1911.] 



Scientific Agriculture. 



ference) in the straw litter ; this will 

 occupy the pullet for some time. Always 

 keep grit (both quartz and shell), small 

 charcoal, and fresh clean water in the 

 pens. The water vessel should be 

 cleaned out daily and refilled as often as 

 required, and should be scalded and 

 disinfected once a week. The method of 

 feeding advised is one that will provide 

 all the constituents necessary to fulfil 

 the life functions and give a surplus for 

 egg production. On no account should 

 an attempt be made to force the egg 

 production. You wish to ascertain 

 what the hen will do under suitable con- 

 ditions and on normal feeding, and you 

 also hope to have a sound healthy hen 

 at the termination of your test- Forced 

 pullets are afterwards valueless as 

 breeders. Avoid patent foods, spices, 

 and other nostrums ; they should have 

 no place in the practical man's food- 



house. Endless harm has been caused to 

 the poultry industry in all countries by 

 the foolish practice of using nostrums, 

 so-called tonics, &c. A carefully bred 

 fowl, if properly housed in a well-vetilat- 

 ed clean house, needs nothing more than 

 a sufficiency of sound, wholesome food 

 and fresh clean water. Give what 

 variety of food you can afford or obtain, 

 but remember egg production depends 

 on the use of food having the necessary 

 constituents, and that what may suit 

 pigs for fattening may not suit laying 

 hens. All mash or soft food should be 

 most thoroughly mixed by hand until of 

 a crumbly consistency. Lazy people 

 recommend shovels, &c, just as the 

 workmen mix concrete ; that is the lazy 

 man's method and is very ineffective. 

 Success in poultry feeding and breeding 

 requires thoroughness in every operation 

 and the avoidance of the lazy man's so- 

 called " time-savers." 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



THE CAUSES OP SALINITY IN 

 SOILS AND THE METHODS OP 

 RECLAIMING SALINE SOILS. 



By W. H. Harrison, 

 Agricultural Chemist. 



(Prom the Madras Agricultural 

 Calendar, 1911-12.) 

 In all countries having a high summer 

 temperature combined with a deficient 

 rainfall, there occur tracts of land which 

 contain such a high proportion of 

 soluble salts that the growth of veget- 

 ation on them is hindered or even in- 

 habited. 



Under these climatic conditions, the 

 texture of soil is an important factor in 

 determining the appearance of saline 

 substances in it. In loose open soils a 

 considerable amount of percolation may 

 occur with a small rainfall and thus 

 remove the harmful salts. On the other 

 hand in close heavy soils, and especially 

 in those having imperfect drainage, 

 little or no percolation occurs, and in 

 consequence the harmful salts are not 

 removed from the soil, but remain in 

 solution in the soil water. During the 

 dry season this water evaporates from 

 the surface, where the saline substances 

 accumulate as years go on. As these 

 salts accumulate the natural vegetation 

 becomes less and less, until it is finally 

 killed and the soil becomes sterile. 

 Again, the presence of an impervious 



layer in subsoil prevents free drainage 

 to the land, and in the manner described 

 produces a tendency for the soil to be- 

 come saline. In fact, under many of the 

 saline tracts in this Presidency such an 

 impervious layer exists. 



The substances which give rise to this 

 harmful condition are numerous, but 

 usually there are found in the soil the 

 carbonate, sulphate and chloride of 

 soda. These salts are produced by the 

 decomposition of the rock minerals in 

 the soil, and the type of saline soil 

 produced depends upon the predo- 

 minance of one or the other. Thus 

 carbonate of soda gives rise to what is 

 termed " black alkali," a condition 

 which is most harmful to plane life. 

 Sulphate and chloride of soda give rise 

 to " white alkali," a condition which 

 although exceedingly detrimental to 

 vegetation is however less so than the 

 black alkali. 



It does not follow that because a tract 

 of land is saline that this is due to the 

 decomposition of the minerals in that 

 soil. -In many cases the harmful salts 

 have been transported some distance 

 from other areas, for, in well drained 

 lands the soil solution percolates to a 

 lower level, and the harmful salts are 

 thus removed and finally are incor- 

 porated with the waters of the ocean 

 through the agency of springs, streams 

 and rivers. Occasionally, however, this 

 drainage water finds its way into a tract 



