DIVISION OF SOILS, 75 



In addiliun \o lliis, llic lol lowing allotments will be required: 



Transportation of field iiarties_ .-."$9, 000 



Preparation of maps 4. 000 



Printing reports and maps ^ 13, 000 



If the money be appropriated by Congress and these or similar allot- 

 ments are approved by the Secretary of Agrienltnre, I should propose 

 to assign one or more field parties to eaeli of these States and have 

 them spend from six to nine months of the year in the field and the 

 remaining time in AVashington, D. C, writing np their results and 

 preparing maps and reports for pulilication. 



The actual cost of surveying 3,380 squai'e miles in the fiscal year 

 1899, including the annual salaries of the men and all field sui)plies, 

 transportation, and subsistence, amounted to between 18,000 and 

 69,000. It is proposed to do between five and six times this amount 

 of "work during the coming year if this increased appropriation be 

 allowed by Congress. This sum, however, did not include the cost of 

 the preparation of the maps and the publication of the results. For 

 several reasons it is extremely desirable that provision be made in 

 the divisional appropriation for the cost of j)ublishing the results 

 of the field operations. The rapid growth of the publication work 

 of the Department taxes to the uttermost limit the resources of the 

 Division of Publications, which controls, outside of Farmers' Bulle- 

 tins, but a single fund available for printing for all the Divisions. 

 This fund, even if considerably increased, is liable to become ex- 

 hausted, indeed has on several occasions been exhausted, before the 

 close of the fiscal year. At such times the publications of certain 

 Divisions must necessarily, often unfortunately', be postponed. A 

 clause in the divisional appropriation permitting expenditure to print 

 would often avoid vexatious and costly delays. While the total amount 

 asked for may seem large, the allotment to each State is very moder- 

 ate, and does not begin to meet the demands from several of tlie States. 

 For example, there is an urgent request from North Carolina to survey 

 at least 5,000 square miles next year. Even with this increase in the 

 api^ropriation 1,000 square miles is all that could be promised without 

 neglecting the interests in other States, which are quite as great and 

 as urgently asked for as in North Carolina. The allotment for Cali- 

 fornia is greater than for other States for the simple reason that the 

 State is so large and the interests are so different that at least two or 

 three iDarties should be assigned permanently to that locality. It is 

 my purpose, with your approval, to continue, and if possible to com- 

 plete, the survey of the San Joaqiiin Valle}'; to maintain one party 

 in southern California, where the interests and conditions are totally 

 different; and possibly to maintain a third partv in the Sacramento 

 Valley. 



I am well aware that other States have already and will still urge 

 the extension of the soil survey to their own peculiar localities. These 

 claims will have to be met in the future, either by additional appro- 

 priations, if in the wisdom of Congress this is advisable, or by shift- 

 ing the force from year to year to take in the princij^al agricultural 

 regions of the United States. It would be a pleasure to show anyone 

 interested in the development of the work of the Division the letters 

 received in commendation of the work already done and in urging 

 the extension of the work, and also to show the plans for the exten- 

 sion of the work proposed in this recommendation — matters which 

 could not possibly be brought within the comj)ass of a rej^ort of this 

 size and character. 



