SIMPLE SOIL ANALYSIS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2063, 24 June 1890, Page 3

SIMPLE SOIL ANALYSIS.

The following simple directions for soil analysis are given by a correspondent in the Massachusetts Ploughman. They will enable a person not a chemist to rougbly analyse his soil at very little expense. The chemisty of the field is more beneficial to the farmer than that of ‘he laboratory. A soil analyis gives us only what the soil contains at the moment of examination, and not the quantity in which theseeonstitutents may be available to the plant in assimiable form during the period of its growth. If it is desired to know wether a soil is already charged with nitrogenous matter it is sufficient to sow a bindful of wheat upon a small square of ground which has been manured wi>b mineral substances only. Without the aid of nitrogenous matter, the mineral matter has scarcely any efiect upon wheat. Therefore, if the small equaje of ground gives a rapid and healthy vegetation and a good crop, it shows that the earth had a sufficient supply of nitrogen. On the other band, to ascertain wether the soil contains a sufficiency of mineral manure (phosphate of lime and potash), manure plots with nitrogenous substance on y, planting one with corn and another with potatoes, The great influence that phosphate of lime baa on corn, sorghum, and sugar, cane, and potash on potatoes and tobacco, is well known ; therefore, if the corn flourishes we tray be sure the land has enough phosphate of lime and if the potatoes flourish ihe land does not lack potash. Thus two experiments, requiring but a small area of ground and trying three different crops, are sufficient to obtain the indications necessary to a judicious system of culture. The variable yield of these crops, compared with that obtained from land manured with tha nitrogenous and mineral elements combined, will measure the richness of the soil. There is no one subject in agriculture which demands demands at the present day more care, continued and widely extended, than the practice of manuring. A soil cannot be cultivated until it has bi-en rightfully subjected to such examination as will tell us, as near as any examination can, what is necessary to render it fertile. The theory of scientific agriculture is based upon a complete knowledge of noils, plants, animals, and manures, and it is evident tbst until these elements are thoroughly understood no attempts or plans for increased production can possib'y ha successful.