No. 7. DErARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 429 



cause in this country, its importance was not realized earlier as long 

 as unlimited resources of fertile lields could be obtained for the asking 

 and Uncle Sam was rich enough to give us each a farm. 



It seems only recently that the fact has dawned upon this nation 

 that agriculture has not kept pace with the natural increase of popula- 

 tion and the great influx of immigrants, that an alarm was created 

 by high prices and in some lines a shortage of food products. Occa- 

 sionally, bulletins are published by the Experiment Stations, but are 

 not extensively read or heeded, and lately the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has entered the field under the title of Soil Sur- 

 vey, in which is engaged a large force of very talented scientists as 

 also some that are not overly qualified. 



The voluminous nature of the Soil Survey publications militate 

 against popular interest and the introduction of a new nomenclature, 

 introducing new names for many formations about which there al- 

 ready exists confusion between National and State designation, ren- 

 ders them even less popular. ^A'hat was known formerly as limestone 

 soil of the great valley south of the Blue Mountain is termed Hagers- 

 town loam, alongside of the Utica and Hudson Kiver shales and 

 slates termed Hagerstown shale loam, Ilagerstown stony loam, 

 Hagerstown sandy loam, Porter's black loam. Porter's clay. Porter's 

 sand, Cecil clay, Cecil loam, Sandy loam, Penn clay, Penn loam, Penn 

 sandy loam; then we have Waverly, Marion, Miami, Hanover, Mack- 

 inaw and a great variety of local names that apply to practically the 

 same soil characteristics in various and distinct localities. The glacial 

 deposits of the northern section also re-ceive many new names, 

 according to the locality where examined, although the clay, sands, 

 gravel and boulders are practically similar. 



Whatever the sources of a soil may be, a proper proportion of sand 

 and clay are the requisites for a good, friable, retentive, easily worked 

 soil. If lacking lime or other substances, these can be supplied and 

 the soil made fertile; now found necessary on many fields that were 

 once productive but depleted by cropping. This State and the coun- 

 try contains a great variety of soils, taking the entire area under 

 cultivation and it is evidently unfair to make this a standard for 

 comparison in crop production with other countries. 



England is an illustration. An island of small dimension with a 

 humid, cool climate, tempered by the Gulf stream and a soil largely 

 composed of chalk and lime or volcanic and glacial deposits, with an 

 average yearly rainfall and no such protracted periods of drought 

 to which much of this country is subject, the conditions are quite 

 different. In some parts of Pennsylvania like the counties of Bucks, 

 Berks, in part, Lebanon and Lancaster, the average yield would 

 compare favorably if not fully, with that of any country, while the 

 Mississippi Valley or the states on the Pacific Coast would afford 

 a fairer comparison, 



Maine produces more bushels of corn to the acre than any other 

 state, because there are only a few acres, seventeen thousand, in corn; 

 New Hampshire, Vermont, Ehode Island, Massachusetts and Con- 

 necticut exceed Iowa by ten bushels an acre, but the Eastern States 

 cultivate only two hundred and thirty-nine thousand acres, while 

 Iowa cultivates nine and a half million acres, or practically four 

 times as much as all the New England states. So, with potatoes; 

 Maine produces two hundred and twenty bushels average to the acre, 



