LXVI REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



plated by the above plans, which will require for its completion within 

 the fiscal year 30 field parties, costing approximately $4,000 each, 

 calculated on the basis of the work done during the last three years. 

 Each party would survey about 1,200 square miles, making a total 

 estimated area of 34,800 square miles, or 22,272 acres, in 38 States 

 and Territories, which Avould be surveyed in that year. 



Publication of the Report and Maps. 



The results of the field work of the Bureau of Soils are published 

 under authorit}^ of the joint resolution of Congress providing for the 

 printing annually of the Report of Field Operations of the Division of 

 Soils, Department of Agriculture, approved February 23, 1901. Under 

 the interpretation of this resolution by the Public Printer, the report 

 and accompanjdng papers have to be published at one time in a single 

 volume, with the maps in a separate case. This is undesirable in many 

 wa3^s, for work that is finished in the winter or spring has to be held 

 in the ofiice until the succeeding Februarj^, when the report of the 

 field work is all completed and sent to the Public Printer. This 

 delays the publication for nearl}^ eighteen months after the work is 

 completed, and the public interests require that the work should be 

 published as soon as possible after the completion of the field work. 

 Furthermore, the publication of all the reports and maps in a single 

 A'olume makes a bulky and expensive book to send to any person 

 requesting information about a particular area. The demand also is 

 so great that, although the Department has 8,000 copies of the bound 

 report to distribute and the Senate and House of Representatives 

 have together 9,000 copies, the Department received upward of 2,000 

 requests for the 1900 report which could not be filled. Reprints were 

 ordered of all the reports, in editions ranging from 500 to 1,500 

 copies, and these were quickly exhausted. As the work becomes bet- 

 ter known, many requests are coming from Senators and Representa- 

 tives, and the opinion is freel}^ expressed that the full value of the 

 work can not be secured unless there is a liberal provision for its dis- 

 tribution within the area in which the work has been done. The 

 requests for reprints of the 1901 report indicate that from 3,000 to 

 10,000 copies will be required to satisfy the demand, notwithstanding 

 the fact that some of the States are ordering reprints of the maps for 

 their own distribution. 



In view of these facts it is recommended that the joint resolution be 

 so amended as to permit of the Report of the Field Operations of the 

 Bureau of Soils being published in parts or volumes as the work is 

 completed. That there should also l)e reprinted of the separate 

 reports, with their accompanying illustrations and soil maps, editions 

 sufiicient to allow 500 for each Senator to whose State the survey 

 relates, 2,000 for each Representative in whose district the survey may 



