REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 109 



and winter markets. In the region of the Great Plains the different 

 soils are being outlined which have a direct and dominant value in 

 the distribution of crops under dry-land farming. In the western 

 "valleys and the reclamation projects the soils and alkali conditions 

 are being mapped as a guide to the use and treatment of the soils 

 under irrigation. On the Pacific coast the surveys are mapping the 

 soils adapted to the important interests of that section, including the 

 production of general farm crops and the highly specialized fruit 

 and truck interests. 



The Great Lakes region possesses some of the most valuable 

 agricultural land in the United States, and upon the best of its soils 

 the highest t}^es of mixed dairy and general farming are developed. 

 The northern part of the region, however, contains many thousand 

 acres of light sandy soil which has heretofore yielded but little of 

 either natural forest products or subsequent farm crops. Experi- 

 ments of a practical nature and on a regular farm basis, both by 

 scientific experiments and pioneer farmers, are, however, demonstrat- 

 ing the fact that even the loose, sandy jack-pine lands can be profit- 

 ably cultivated when just the proper methods are employed. The 

 proper crop adaptations of these glacial soils of widely different 

 characteristics and capabihties are being studied by the Bureau. 

 The information gained from both detailed and reconnoissance soil 

 surveys aids greatly in the intelligent selection and uses of the soils 

 in a sparsely settled region of cheap lands as well as in the more 

 intensively cultivated areas where comfortable livings can be made 

 from smaller farms of higher price and greater productive capacity. 



The ravages of the cotton boil weevil in the Gulf States has created 

 an intense interest in the diversification of crops on the one hand and 

 the specialization of crops and agricultural interests on the other. 

 Consequently that section of the country has been especially urgent 

 for increased knowledge of its soils as a safe and fundamental guide 

 in its development. 



The reconnoissance survey of the Great Plains region, begun in 

 1908, was continued by the survey of tliree additional areas; one in 

 the central Gulf coast of Texas, another in the panhandle of the 

 same State, and the third included the entire western half of Kansas. 



These reconnoissance surveys show the general character and dis- 

 tribution of the different kinds of soils in the area covered, their rela- 

 tive agricultural possibilities, and the crops which have been and 

 will prove most successful. They furnish a large amount of valuable 

 and accurate information, not only to prospective settlers but also to 

 those farmers who are already in the areas. The rapid development 

 of these sections created an immense demand for these reports and 

 some of those already published were exhausted within four months 

 of their issue. This work will continue during the winter with the 



