BUREAU OF SOILS. 175 



Janesville area to survey the soils around Janesville, Stoughton, and 

 Edgerton. This survej^ is in the interest of the tobacco growers, and 

 is particularly to see if the Sumatra tobacco is likely to be adapted 

 to this section, and to be a basis for the improvement of the type of 

 tobacco at present grown. 



It seems desirable to assign a party to this State for six months 

 (luring the next field season to make a survey, particularly of Eau 

 Claire County. 



WYOMING. 



No soil surveys have as jet been made in this State, but it is pro- 

 posed to assign a party for six months during the next field season to 

 survey' the soils of the irrigable part of the Laramie sheet of the 

 Geological Survey. 



ESTIMATED COST OF PROPOSED SOIL SURVEY WORK. 



During the fiscal year 1902 about S40,000 was spent on the soil sur- 

 vey with 10 survey parties. For the fiscal year 1903 an allotment of 

 860,000 has been made for this work with 15 soil survey parties. For 

 the fiscal year 1904, for which estimates are being submitted to Con- 

 gress, on the basis of the'plans which have just iDeen given for the 

 continuation and extension of the work iu order to meet the most 

 urgent demands, an allotment of $120,000 would be necessarj'. This 

 is based upon a total estimate of 243 months of field work contem- 

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

 the fiscal j^ear 30 field i^arties, costing apj^roximately $4,000 each, 

 calculated on the basis of the work done during the last three j^ears. 

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

 estimated area of 34,800 square miles, or 22,272,000 acres, in 38 States 

 and Territories, which would 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 authority of a joint resolution of Congress, ai3proved February 

 23, 1901, which provides for the printing annually ot the Report of 

 Field Operations of the Division of Soils, Department of Agriculture. 



The jjublication of this report exclusivel}^ in its present form and at 

 one time, in spite of the fact that it is made up of numerous separate 

 reports presented at various times throughout the year, is undesirable 

 for many reasons. AVork that is finished in the T^inter or spring has 

 to be held in the office until the succeeding February, when the report 

 of the field work is fullj" completed and sent to the Public Printer. 

 This delays the publication for nearlj" eighteen months after the work is 

 completed, and the public interests require that publication of each 

 report siiould follow as soon as possible after the completion of the field 

 work. Furthermore, the publication of all the reports and maps in a 

 single volume 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 of the reports, in editions ranging from 500 to 1,500 

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



