TABLE 8.

Common Salt on bush lands remote from crops. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Sample. Per cent. of Salt. Remarks _____________________________________________________________________________________

 4    ..       ..       ..             •222 (a)                      Mixed scrub and white thorn.
 6    ..       ..       ..             •286 (a)                      Mallee scrub.

10 .. .. .. •367 Tall mallee and Ti-tree. 12 .. .. .. •332 Morrell. 15 .. .. .. •499 Tall black and white Mallee, and Ti-tree. 16 .. .. .. •136 Salmon gum forest. 17 .. .. .. •337 Small open Mallee and Ti-tree. 19 .. .. .. •396 (a) Black-butt and Blue-bush. 21 .. .. .. •390 (a) White Gums with Salt Bush etc. * _____________________________________________________________________________________

• Photographs in Appendix A.

No cropping had been attempted near those soils. Two of them (N0x.19 and 21) indeed lie north of the land, which has been considered safe for farming, and the samples were taken chiefly to confirm an expectation that as one travelled northward into better land and lower rainfall the salt content would be greater than farther south. These were very fine soils. Turning to the other bush soils from Salmon Gums southwards, most of these contain an excess of common salt, This is especially so in No. 15 (McKinnon's block), No. 12 and No. 10, all of them growing morrell or similar big timber. These soils contain too much salt for safe farming, and two of them (Nos. 12 and 15) much resemble on another in appearance, being of a soft fluffy nature and presumably similar in character. Nos. 4 and 16 contain a moderate amount of salt but not enough o preclude cropping provided the rainfall is sufficient. No. 17, taken in small open mallee and ti-tree near Grass Patch, likewise contains too much salt for safe farming.