ANALYSIS OF SOILS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18996, 18 April 1925, Page 17

ANALYSIS OF SOILS.

- ' . ' " SOME ADVANTAGES. SAVES MONEY AND LABOUR. The greatest advantage of having an analysis of the soil piado is in the saving of money and labour spent on buying and applying constituents which are un< necessary or are already present in sufficient quantity. An analysis will Bhow whether the elements of fertility present in the soil art- in an available state or whether it is necessary to give the plants extra help until they have become established. To bo of real help an analysis should show the percentages which are probably available for plant food in the near future. A grower does not require to know how much unavailable wealth he has in his soil For instance, it is wellknown that potash may be present in large quantities, and yet the plants may show signs of potash starvation; the same remark applies to phosphoric acid. It has been established that the roots of plants exudo acid which, acting on the elements of fertility in the soil, renders them solubh and fit for plant food. In making an analysis the total potash or phosphoric acid is first ascertained, then these results are acted upon by an acid, and so much as remains insoluble is considered to bo combined or tied up and not immediately available to the plants. The percentages that are soluble in these tests are those that are probably available for plant food in the near future. Every chemist is not capable of making a soil analysis, and more especially a soil analysis for a market grower. Only those who are specialists at this kind of work are qualified, since soil analysis is becoming each year more and more rccog. nised as a necessary part of the season s routine.