REPOET OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. LXVII 



be made, and 1,000 for the use of the Department of Agriculture. 

 This will insure the prompt publication of the results of the survey 

 and a distribution through members of Congress, which my present 

 information seems to indicate is desirable if the full value of the soil 

 surve}^ work is to be attained in the dissemination of the information 

 thus gathered, promptly and freely, to the people who are interested. 



Needed Lp:gislation for Insux,ar Surveys. 



It seems desirable that the benefits derived from the soil survey 

 work should be extended to the insular possessions of the United 

 States, and I recommend that the act making appropriation for the 

 Bureau of Soils be so worded as to permit of the sending of soil survey 

 parties to Porto Rico and Hawaii. Numerous demands have come 

 for the extension of the work in l)oth Porto Rico and Hawaii, and it 

 seems probal)le that the work Nvill be of particular value to these 

 islands in the present state of the building up of their agricultural 

 resources. 



The work has already been started in Porto Rico and in the Philip- 

 pine Islands, the latter through cooperation with the War Department 

 and the civil government of the islands, in the detail of Mr. Clarence 

 W. Dorsey to the Philippine government and the defraying of his 

 salary and the expenses of the soil survey work by that government. 

 The work can not be continued in Porto Rico nor started by the 

 Department in any other of our possessions without a change in the 

 wording of the appropriation act. 



Investigations in Soil Management. 



In the developn>ent of the soil survey many questions are presented 

 of the possibility of improved methods of cultivation and handling of 

 the crops, as well as of introducing new methods, new crops, and new 

 industries. Some of these suggestions need more time and more study 

 than can be given by the soil-survey parties in the limited time in 

 which the}^ remain in an area. Furthermore, the presentation of such 

 suggestions in printed reports is apt to fail of securing proper recog- 

 nition from the conservative farmer, who follows pretty much the 

 methods used by himself and his i;redecessors on the land. Without 

 these further studies and a practical demonstration of their efficiency 

 many of the important results of the soil survey are liable to be lost. 



For these reasons a division of soil management has been instituted 

 in the Bureau, in charge of Prof. Franklin H. King. During the past 

 year exceedingly delicate methods have been devised for the analyses 

 of soils in the field. They are so sensitive that the amounts of 

 nitrates, phosphates, sulphates, and the like which may be present, 

 as indicated by water solutions, can be determined to within 4 or 5 



