BUREAU OF SOILS. 479 



mental basis for all other agricultural investigations. The reports 

 describe the origin, mode of formation, and physiographic features 

 of the soils, and discuss their physical and chemical characteristics, 

 fertility factors and manurial requirements, their adaptation to crops 

 and to rotation, and the methods of management required to achieve 

 the best results in cultivation. 



These reports are now extensively used by the following interests, 

 and are being more used and more fully appreciated with extension 

 and better understanding of the work : 



EXPERIMENT STATIONS, UNIVERSITIES, AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS, AND 



STATE OFFICIALS. 



The soil surveys, giving as they do the orderly arrangement and 

 classification of the soils of the State, are of value to the experiment 

 stations in giving a soil-type basis for investigations of the fertilizer 

 requirement, crop rotation, crop adaptation, plant breeding, plant 

 diseases, and soil management of particular farms or of large areas 

 in any particular State, for the establishment of substations on im- 

 portant soil types, and for farm demonstration work. 



They are of value to the State geological surveys, as the mapping of 

 the material (the soil) assists them in their work of mapping accord- 

 ing to age, especialh' where rock exposures or fossils are not freely dis- 

 closed. The soil is one of the principal economic expressions of the 

 geological work, the soil material being the resultant of geological 

 processes acting on geological material. Furthermore, soil char- 

 acteristics are frequently very valuable evidence of geological proc- 

 esses or conditions of great importance for other geoeconomic 

 problems. 



The soil surveys are of value to the State departments of agricul- 

 ture, in that they enable a more intelligent collection of statistical 

 data relating to the present status of farming interests and to the 

 possibility of future development of agriculture along safe and 

 rational lines. 



The soil surveys are of value to the university and agricultural 

 school as a basis of instruction in agriculture, in commercial geog- 

 raphy, in political and social economy, and in geology, physics, and 

 agricultural chemistry. 



The maps are of value and are being used by State officials in 

 colonization work and in some States as a basis for the fixation of 

 land values for just taxation. 



GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS AND FEDERAL OFFICIALS. 



The soil surveys are of value to the War Department in arranging 

 for camp sites and for military maneuvers. 



To the Reclamation Service in construction work and in the use and 

 disposal of the lands of the irrigation projects when completed. 



To the Land Office for the determination of the agricultural value 

 of lands. 



To the Forest Service for the same purpose, and for determining 

 what lands to devote to permanent forest use and the varieties of 

 trees adapted to the soil types. 



