444 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



*Tbe Agricultural Department at Wasbingtou has inaugurated a 

 soil survey in order to stud}' the adaptabilrty of soils to crops. The 

 Department seeks to present as clearly and as forcibly as possible 

 rbe conditions of an area in such a manner as to make it possible 

 for prospective settlers to take up lands suited for certain crops, 

 and to enable present owners of land to learn from the experi- 

 ences of other localities what crops are best adapted to their own 

 soils and climatic conditions. 



In the present struggle for commercial supremacy, the importance 

 of such accurate knowledge is becoming daily more evident. No 

 community and no nation can atford to waste its time and energies 

 in pursuit of interests to which its conditions are unsuited; nor on 

 the other hand can it atford to lose any chance of inaugurating and 

 developing those interests for which it is peculiarly adapted. The 

 soil survey aim's to eliminate to some extent such waste in the line 

 of agriculture. Its most valuable function is, undoubtedly, the im- 

 provement of existing methods, so that larger fields of our staple 

 crojis can be secured. The success of the Bureau in introducing 

 Sumatra tobacco in certain soils in the Connecticut Valley^ the ex- 

 tension of the grape and other fruit areas in the Piedmont and 

 mountain sections of the Atlantic States, the improvement of the 

 irrigable lands of tlie West, of the rice lands of the Gulf Coast, and 

 of the sugar beet soils wherever they may be found. The solution 

 of these and similar problems will prove invaluable and be the 

 safest guide for future agricultural development. A cursory review 

 of what has been done along this line will show more clearly what 

 can be learned of the relations of the different types of soils to 

 various crops. 



During the survey of 1901, seventeen different classes of soils were 

 surveyed, each of which is divided into a number of types, each type 

 distinguished by marked differences affecting the character and yield 

 of ci'ops. Of the 385,660 acres of stony loam, about 57 per cent, is 

 considered unproductive under present methods of agriculture, 34 

 per cent, is adapted 1o wheat, 20 per cent, to dairying, 14 per cent, 

 to tobacco, 9 per cent, to peaches. Of the 209,000 acres of gravel 

 surveyed, 98 per cent, have been classed as unproductive, and on 2 

 per cent, grapes aie a leading and important crop. It is important 

 to note that peaches are adapted to 7 per cent, of the stony loams, 24 

 jH'r cent, of suiid, 55 per cent, of fine sand, 12 per cent, of sandy loam 

 and are not reported as an important crop on any of the other 

 classes of soils. Wheat is reported as an important crop on 34 per 

 cent, of stony loam, 47 per cent, of gravelly loam, 20 per cent, of 

 sandy loam, 5 per cent, of fine sandy loam, 74 per cent, of loam, 89 

 per cent, of shale loam, 38 per cent, of silt loam. 69 jxn- cent, of clay 

 loam, 44 per c(nit. of clay and 87 per cent, of adope. 



• Field operations of the TJureati of Soils 1901. Sd report, page 28, Milton Whitney. Chief. 



