UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. BULLETIN NO. Op** ^) Q Concerning Specimens Sent for Exam- ination. Many samples of various kinds, forwarded to the Agricultural Department for examination, come unaccompanied by any mark or label by which they can at once be identified win those alluded to in letters sent by mail. Sometimes such packages remain untouched for months for want of such identification, and at all times a great deal of unnecessary trouble results from th« omission to place full labels with soil bags, etc. Red Subsoil, Ione. Insoluble Matter 48.98 1 A ~ an Soluble Silica 18.70 j 57 07 Potash .22 Soda .10 Lime 2.77 Magnesia 1 . 80 Br. Oxide of Manganese .09 Peroxide of Iron 7.91 Alumina 14.98 Phosphoric Acid .04 Sulphuric Acid .06 Water and Organic Matter 4.11 Total Humus in Surface Soil Available Inorganic. 99.76 6.07 5.67 7.09 Itis specially requested that every sample ^ sent, of whatever kind, should be fully marked, Absorbed at 10.5° C. at least with the name of the locality and The percentages of potash and phosphoric sender, besides such numbers or letters as acid in this subsoil are quite low for California, may be placed upon it for reference; and that the latter ingredient being rather deficient. .« f . . ' « Doubtless the analysis of the surface soil would the express tag should, in every case, bear the have given higher ^ ercenta g e8 of both; but the name and address of the consignor, in the blank high figure for lime offsets in a measure the de- provided for the purpose. Examinations of Various Upland Soils. No. 788. — Red subsoil from the foothills near lone, Amador County, sent in byThos. S. Crafts, of lone, with request for an opinion as to fitness for fruit culture. The samples sent were the soils and sub-soils of two kinds of land — the red soil of the higher lands, and the light, chocolate- tinted loam of the valleys. Only the subsoil of the first has thus far been analyzed, and suffices to show the general character of the lands. The surface soil of the red land to the depth of 12 to 13 inches, is relatively light, so that dry lumps can be readily crushed between the fingers — an easily-tilled loam. The subsoil, 13 to 25 inches, is a good deal heavier; the lump not to be crushed between the fingers, and quite adhesive when wetted. This subsoil varies in thickness; from a depth ranging from about 33 to 55 inches the red color changes to a yellowish tint; then immediately upon the bedrock, which lies at variable depths, the color is bluish. The bedrock is slate traversed by ledges of "round, very heavy rock."— Ninety -five per cent of the subsoil passes the sieve of 1-50- inch meshes, and the analysis of the fine earth gave the follow- ing result: feet, in rendering the other ingredients active. While the soil would not endure long without fertilizers under grain culture, it is certainly well adapted for fruit, and whenever production shall become stinted, phosphate fertilizers will first be needed. High quality rather than quantity is to be expected from this land. The chocolate-colored valley soil is doubtless richer in plant food, and would probably answer excellently well for apricots and pears, while the red land is more especially adapted to vines, almonds, peaches and olives. No. 643. — Black waxy adobe, from the Colton ranch, at the foot of Mt. Diablo, on the Alamo road. This is an adobe soil of the most extreme characters thus far met with. It bears a growth of tine white oaks, in rare places large sunflowers, but little or no grass. When dry it is of a dark slate color, and of stony hard- ness. When wet it is as adhesive as birdlime, and vehicles running on it soon have their tires thickly covered with a firmly adhering, uneven ring of adobe, which must be from time to time removed by means of a cutting tool, in order to ease the team and occupants. Like the other adobe soils, it "slakes" quickly on wet- ting the stony, hard dry lumps; but it is diffi- cult to find any condition of moisture at which it is easily tillable. It is free from all coarse particles, "all passing through a sieve having meshes of 1 50 of an inch. The mechanical analysis gave the following result : JNo. 643— Black Waxy Adobe. Fine Earth AU Mechanical Analysis of Fine Earth. (jlay 43 .54 Sediment of