EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
95 
&c., which has been extracted from the soil by those agricultural pro¬ 
ductions ; and every load of manurial matter returned to the farm 
restores productiveness in exact proportion to the amount of these 
chemical substances which it contains. It matters not from what source 
is the nitrogen, lime, potash, or phosphorus, so long as these substances 
are in an available form, or readily become so in the soil. But they 
must be returned to the soil, or sterility will sooner or later overtake 
the best land ever cropped.” 
The following table of the chemical composition of fertile 
and barren soils is given by Mr. Jekyll. 
1. 
j Barren 
Land. 
2. 
Barren 
Peat. 
3. 
Good 
Black Sandy 
Mould. 
4. 
Good 
Loam. 
Water . 
2-0 
4-55 
3-42 
2-47 
Organic Matter 
1-80 
89-14 
9-30 
9-n 
Phosphoric Acid 
— 
— 
0-31 
0-27 
Sulphuiic Acid 
•— 
— 
o-ii 
0-14 
Potash . 
— 
A trace 
223 
2-73 
Soda 
— 
— 
1-98 
1-39 
Lime 
•60 
115 
1-34 
2-27 
Magnesia 
— 
T7 
0-96 
1-05 
Alumina . 
•80 
•58 
10-25 
17-69 
Silica 
92-50 
4T8 
67-29 
58T4 
Chlorine . 
— 
— 
0-68 
0-54 
Oxide of Iron . 
2-84 
0-23 
2-13 
4-20 
Totals . 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
The practical worth and clearness of reasoning in the above 
extracts must be our apology for their length. We are of 
opinion that veterinary surgeons, as a class, ought not to be 
altogether ignorant of these things. At the beginning we 
stated that an altered condition of the vegetable will be often 
productive of disease in the animal, and the first of these 
very frequently arises from the nature of the soil in which 
it is grown. This being ascertained, we may thus arrive at 
a knowledge of the cause of the affection existing in the 
animal, which being removed, the effect necessarily ceases. 
We need not say how many disorders have their origin in 
improper diet. Perhaps they are by far the greater number 
existing in our Nosology. 
