LX EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



NEW YORK. 



During the past fiscal year a soil survey was made of the Westfield 

 area under the direction of Mr. Burke, and of the Elmira or "Big 

 Flats" area under the direction of Mr. Mesmer. 



The Chautauqua grape belt, extending for 30 miles along the Lake 

 Erie shore, is within the first-named area. The old beaches, where 

 the grape industry was first developed, have been outlined upon the 

 map, and the Dunkirk clay, upon which the industr}" has since been 

 developed, is also located, as well as several other foreland and upland 

 soils adapted to general farming and dairying. 



The survey of the Elmira area was undertaken particularly in the 

 interest of the tobacco growers, and more especial! 3" to see if the cul- 

 tivation of Sumatra tobacco could be extended there, and to form a 

 basis for other tobacco investigations for the improvement of their 

 present crops. The results indicate that the Sumatra tobacco can not 

 successfully be produced within the area surveyed, except in one small 

 area of not over 10 or 15 acres, where it might be grown. An exper- 

 iment is in progress to determine this point, although this is not under 

 the control of the Department. The results of the survey point to the 

 need of further investigations of these soils, which under the present 

 methods of cultivation require large annual applications of stable 

 manure to produce satisfactory' yields cf the crops of the locality. 

 There is an opportunity here for the work of the new division of soil 

 management, which would probabl}- 3'ield results of value to the 

 people. 



During the present field season the survey has been extended to the 

 Lyons area in the interest particularh^ of the sugar-beet growers. It 

 is proposed during the coming field season to detail a part}' for nine 

 months to make a soil survey of the whole of Long Island. This is 

 particularly in the interest of the truck growers, and it is believed 

 that the results will be of considerable interest and value. 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



During the past fiscal j^ear a survey has been made of the Alamance 

 County, Cary, and Craven areas under the direction of Mr. Coflev and 

 of the area around Hickory under the charge of Mr. Caine. 



Alamance County is in the Piedmont Plateau, and the work was 

 undertaken in the interest of the cotton growers and general farming. 

 Formerh' this was an important bright-tobacco section, but the growth 

 of this industr}^ in the eastern part of the State has been the cause of 

 a decline in tobacco production in the area, and the soils formerly 

 adapted to this special industry have depreciated considerably in value. 

 Various suggestions of a practical nature in the line of improved meth- 

 ods of cultivation and the introduction of new crops and new industries 

 have been made as a result of the soil survev 



