220  The  Agricultural  Education  TJxhihition,  1904. 
in  soil  by  the  continnoiis  application  of  rain-water  as  com- 
pared with  solutions  of  nitrate  of  soda,  aininoniuin  sulphate, 
and  ammonium  chloride.  Not  only  was  it  shown  that  the  salts 
named  removed  the  lime  from  the  soil  in  varying  but  always 
larger  proportions  than  did  rain-water,  but  the  mechanical 
differences  produced  in  the  condition  of  the  soil  were  of  a most 
striking  nature.  Whereas  with  rain-water  the  soil — a light 
sandy  loam — retained  its  fine  state  of  division  throughout  an 
entire  depth  of  two  feet,  where  the  salts  were  used  a massing 
together  of  the  soil  particles  was  produced,  resulting  in  the 
formation  of  lumps,  the  surface  presenting  also  a crusted 
and  cracked  ap])oarance.  This  resulted  in  the  more  rapid  loss 
of  moisture  and  the  washing  down  to  the  lower  layers  of  the 
finer  particles  of  the  soil,  so  that  the  soil,  depri^-ed  as  it  was 
simultaneously  of  its  organic  matter,  required  more  water  to  be 
applied,  and  became  clogged  and  in  an  unsatisfactory  condition. 
This  was  so  marked  in  the  case  of  nitrate  of  soda  that,  after  a 
dej)th  of  one  foot  or  so  had  been  passed,  the  fine  soil  was  found 
to  be  washed  down  to  the  bottom,  and  formed  there  a cemented 
lump  through  which  no  drainage  would  pass.  This  is  the 
explanation  of  what  takes  place  when  soil  “ runs  together,”  as 
it  is  termed,  through  the  use  of  nitrate  of  soda. 
Following  on  the  demonstration  of  the  valuable  influence 
of  lime  on  an  arable  crop,  was  an  equally  marked  one  of  its 
utility  on  grass  land  when  lime  is  deficient  in  the  soil.  This 
consisted  of  a block  of  turf  about  a foot  square  which  was 
cut  out  of  one  of  the  fields  on  which  for  the  ])ast  eight  years 
the  Society  has  been  carrying  out  experiments  with  a view  to 
the  improvement  of  poor  grass  land.'  The  geological  formation 
of  this  field,  which  is  in  Yorkshire,  is  the  Coal  Measures,  and  the 
soil  is  a grey  clay  of  heavy  character.  When  the  experiment 
began  in  189fi,  Dr.  Voelcker,  after  analysis  of  the  soil,  advised 
that  lime  would  be  useful,  and  this  was  abundantly  justified. 
For  some  years  past  cake  had  been  fed  extensively  on  this  land, 
but  with  little  effect.  The  turf  originally  was  a mass  of  coarse 
grass,  ])rincipally  agrostis,  with  hardly  a bit  of  clover,  and,  on 
cutting  down  into  the  soil,  a S])ongy  mass  of  decaying  root  fibre 
was  found,  this  giving  a distinctly  acid  reaction  to  test  pa])cr. 
In  the  year  189(1  the  field  was  divided  into  several  plots,  on 
one  of  which  lime,  at  the  rate  of  four  tons  per  acre,  was 
a])plied,  and  on  the  next  one  (5  cwt.  per  acre  of  basic  slag 
and  2 cwt.  of  kainit.  For  the  first  two  years  the  benefit  from 
* Sec  Final  Report  on  these  Experiments  in  this  Volume,  p().  316-336. 
