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ANNUAL REPOETS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Areas surveyed and mapped in the several States during the fiscal year ended 

 June 30, 1918, and the areas previously reported — Continued. 



RECONNOISSANCE. 



TRUCK SOILS. 



The study of the relation of soils to truck crops was carried on 

 during the year along the Coastal belt trucking section of the Caro- 

 linas and Georgia, the field work having been completed during the 

 year. Work on the report for the Norfolk district was completed. 



LAND CLASSIFICATION, 



The land classification work in the national forests was carried 

 on as usual, about 45 projects being examined and reported on. In 

 addition to the routine studies such as have been in progress for 

 some time, the question of the relation of soil character to the growth 

 of forage vegetation was raised during the year, and one of the best- 

 trained men of the service was assigned to that work. He covered 

 a large area in southeastern New Mexico and southwestern Texas, 

 where the forage question had become acute on account of the pro- 

 tracted drought in that region. The field work in this area was 

 completed just at the close of the year and another study of a 

 similar kind was begun in Utah. This work is being done in the 

 national forests and in cooperation with the Forest Service. It 

 has been necessary to extend it, in a place or two, beyond the forest 

 boundary in order to obtain data for purposes of comparison. 



OTHER COOPERATIVE PROJECTS. 



Cooperative work was carried on between the soil survey and the 

 Office of Indian Affairs in Arizona and Utah, with the Eeclamation 

 Service on two projects in Wyoming, and with the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry in Maine. 



At the request of the United States Geological Survey an experi- 

 enced soil survey man was assigned to the study of the soil in the 

 various areas being covered by their field parties, Avho were classi- 

 fying the public lands of the United States in accordance with the 

 provisions of the Enlarged Homestead Act. While it was clearly 

 recognized that the basis of that classification is mainly the kind 

 and density of the native vegetation, yet it was thought a study of 

 the soil also, especially in so far as its content of organic matter, its 

 depth, and its texture are concerned, might be of at least confirm- 

 atory value. The results seem to have justified the assignment on 



