106 ANNUAL REPORTS OF ORPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In declining requests for cooperation, however, we have not changed 

 our opinion as to the vahie of cooperative work. Work done under 

 such conditicms is considered to be often of a higher grade than that 

 done without cooperation. It brings together and harmonizes the 

 experience of two organizations, each, because of the conditions of its 

 existence, possessing knowledge that the other does not possess. It 

 increases also the total amount of work done by the amount that the 

 State men are able to do. It is very desirable that the Bureau of 

 Soils be placed in a condition enabling it to take up cooperative work 

 with all the States that desire it. This will avoid the inevitable con- 

 fusion that would result if the States should do the work alone and 

 according to any point of view they might have. The increasing 

 interest in the work is making it certain that the States will under- 

 take it alone if the bureau can not lend its aid in the matter. For the 

 sake of fullness, accuracy, and uniformity of results it is very im- 

 portant that the bureau should be placed in a position where it would 

 not be compelled to decline requests for cooperation. 



Another condition arising from the increased interest and recog- 

 nition of the work of the soil survey is the necessity for greater 

 accuracy, not only of mapping, but of definition and correlation. 

 This necessitates more careful supervision of the field work, more 

 comprehensive study of soil relations, and more careful criticism of 

 reports and maps by the scientific staff of the survey. During the 

 past year more time has been spent in this part of the work than has 

 €ver been spent in this way before. The results have fully justified 

 the money and effort expended. Rigid supervision is absolutely nec- 

 essary if uniformity of results is to be attained. The increased super- 

 vision has not, however, sensibly increased the cost, per square mile, 

 of the work. The membership of the supervising staff has not been 

 increased, in fact there has been a slight decrease, but the better 

 results are being brought about by greater care in the work and better 

 methods. Revolutionary or striking results have not been attained 

 and are not expected in the future. Soil survey work is fundamental 

 in 'its nature. In the verj' nature of the case it can not be spectacular. 

 The soil survey is an institution devoted to the accumulation of a 

 well-defined group of facts. The knowledge thus gained has a scien- 

 tific as well as a practical value. The practical knowledge can be 

 ajDplied in many cases at once and valuable economic and social results 

 arise from it. This is the value that is usually emphasized — to be 

 able to direct agricultural progress along proper lines, to point out 

 natural adaptabilities of soil, to suggest improved methods of cultiva- 

 tion based on a knowledge of the soil to be cultivated, merely to 

 attract the cultivator's attention to the soil as something well worth 

 his careful stud)' ; these are some of the possibilities and actualities of 

 the soil survey. The fact, however, that its results have a practical 

 Value of this kind makes them no less valuable as facts of science. 



