KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. XLVII 



DIVISION OF SOILS. 

 PROGRESS OF SOIL SURVEY. 



The Division of Soils has continued and considerably extended the 

 inv^estigation and mapping of the soils of some of the important agTi- 

 cultural districts of the United States. This work has been carried on 

 during the tiscal year in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North 

 Carolina, Louisiana, Utah, California, and Arizona. The total area 

 surve3^ed and mapped (on a scale of 1 inch to the mile) amounts to 

 3,386 square miles, or 2,160,000 acres. The Report of the Field Opera- 

 tions of the Division of Soils for 1899, which was transmitted to Con- 

 gress by the President on February 5, 1900, has been published with 

 the accompanying maps and illustrations. There has been an unprec- 

 edented demand for this publication, and the number assigned for the 

 use of this Department has been heavily drawn upon to supply Sena- 

 tors, Representatives, and Delegates, who found their quota entirely 

 inadequate to supplj?^ the demands. 



The pressure for the soil survey work has been so great from many 

 districts that the limited means at our disposal and the few trained 

 men available to head the lield parties have made it necessary to shift 

 the parties in" the field more than would otherwise have been advisable. 

 Foreseeing the popular demand there would be for work of this char- 

 acter, I have caused a number of young men to be trained in the field 

 and laboratory work, so as to be ready to meet the demands should 

 Congress see fit to increase the appropriations. Since the importance 

 and practical value of the work have been appreciated, and especially 

 since the published reports and soil maps have appeared, the pressure 

 from all parts of the country has been so great that I have asked Con- 

 gress for an increase of $80,000 in the appropriation for this soil sur- 

 vey work. If this be granted work will be immediately started in 

 about twenty States and Territories, assigning one field party to each 

 of these States for an entire field season of from six to nine months. 

 Each one of these parties should survey from 600 to 1,000 square miles 

 per year and prepare soil maps for the use of farmers and others 

 interested in the development of our agricultural districts. 



The Department has received many letters and resolutions from 

 various individuals and organized associations speaking in the highest 

 teruLs of the practical value of the maps and reports, indorsing the 

 accuracy of the work so far done, and urging in the strongest terms 

 that similar work be instituted in a number of other localities. 



The reports of the field operations of the Division of Soils can not 

 from the nature of things be confined to 100 printed pages, which is 

 the statutory limitation imposed upon the Secretary for editions 

 exceeding 1,000 copies. As the popular demand for the work is very 



