Report on the Agi-iculture of Belgium. 
7 
The following analyses and explanation of tlie properties 
of these soils by Dr. Voelcker will probably be found in- 
teresting : — 
Composilion of three Belginn Campine soils from the neighbourhood of 
Hasselt. Proprietor M. Van Vinheroy. 
Soils dried at 212° Falir. 
Intermediate 
1 nil CI 
Top layer. 
layer. 
layer. 
Organic matter . . 
.. .. 2^890 .. .. 
1-771 
Oxide of iron 
•KiO 
•G90 .. .. 
1-010 
Alumina 
•040 
•417 .. .. 
•727 
•078 
•059 .. .. 
•095 
•110 
•180 .. .. 
•459 
Potash 
•027 
•050 .. .. 
•088 
•003 
•015 .. .. 
Phosphoric acid . . 
•012 
•058 .. .. 
•083 
Sulphuric acid .. 
•034 
•058 .. .. 
•092 
Silica (white sand) 
98'010 
.. .. 95-790 .. .. 
95-861 
100-1G4 
100-207 
100-186 
The top soil contained a little organic matter in the shape of 
small roots of plants, readily distinguishable by their form and 
dark colour. The soil apart from the rootlets was nearly white, 
and on heating in an open platinum capsule appeared to be 
a whitish sand tinged very faintly yellow by a trace of oxide of 
iron. It contained in round numbers 98 per cent, of pure white 
sand, mere traces of potash and phosphoric acid, and only frac- 
tions per cent, of lime, alumina, oxide of iron, magnesia, soda, 
and sulphuric acid. Adding the organic matter (1-69) to the 
sand, we have 99^70 per cent., which leaves only 3 parts in 1000 
for all the other soil-constituents. 
It need hardly be mentioned that this is a soil of extreme 
poverty. Manure applied to it, we were told, produces little 
effect; a fact which finds a ready explanation in the absence of 
any appreciable quantity of alumina, oxide of iron, and other 
soil-constituents possessing the power of absorbing and retaining 
the fertilising substances contained in yard-manure. 
The intermediate or second layer of soil had a dark brown 
colour, which is due to organic substances of the nature of ulmic 
and humic acid. Heated in an open platuium capsule, this 
portion of the soil burned bright red, showing that mixed, or 
more probably combined, with the organic acids, there was oxide 
of iron in sufficient quantity to colour the sand, after burning, 
bright red. The second layer, it will be seen, contained four- 
times as much oxide of iron and ten times as much alumina as 
the top-layer. It likewise contained considerably more phosphoric 
acid and potash than the top-soil, and altogether is better adapted 
to sustain vegetable life than the extremely sterile top-soil. 
