84 NIXl^yrEENTII UEPOKT. 



7). The addition of tlie following features will aid in tlic presenta- 

 tion of agricultural conditions: 



a). In most regions there exists a distinct farm type. A description 

 of general farm practices can indicate only imperfectly the nature of 

 this type. Usually it is not difficult to select an individual farm which 

 will approach very closely to the type condition. If for such a farm, 

 the sj'stem of farm management be described briefly and a sketch made 

 of the use, character, and location of fields and of improvements, a 

 concrete example of an average farm is supplied that will be of great 

 value in miderstanding the rural economy of the district. In many 

 counties one or more farms are far in advance of average conditions. 

 In some cases such a farm may be cited as representing in a sense an 

 ideal type toward which the development of the region will tend. 



b). One-fourth of the 1913 soil reports were illustrated with an 

 average of four half-tones each. The other three-fourths are not illus- 

 trated. The contrast in the intelligibility of the reports of the two groups 

 to one who is not familiar with the ground demonstrates that the photo- 

 graph is quite as indispensable a vehicle of description in agricultural 

 reports as it is in areal studies of other kinds. Topography, character 

 of unimproved land, fields in crop, manner of tillage, nature of farm 

 buildings are in some instances of such a nature as to require ])hoto- 

 graphic illustration for effective presentation. 



c). A large part of the information regarding agricultural conditions 

 can be summarized in a maji which shows the uses to which the land is 

 put. This map, primarily economic in nature, is the natural comple- 

 ment of the soil map. Attempts of numerous kinds have been made to 

 map the economy of the land, with varying degrees of success. One of 

 the most notable of these is the map of the "Distribution of Cultures 

 in the Austrian Alps" by Norbert Krebs. In this the following condi- 

 tions are represented: barren ground predominant, grazing land pre- 

 dominant, forest predominant, meadows in excess of fields, fields in 

 excess of meadows, fields in excess of 50% of the total area.* The 

 grouping is by large headings as the scale of the map is small. A far 

 more ambitious map of similar nature is published as the Botanical 

 Survey of Scotland, which is not botanical in the ordinary sense, as it 

 shows primarily the uses of the land. The map shows such areas as 

 "Cultivation with Wheat," "Cultivation without Wheat, oats chief croj)," 

 and "Hill pasture with grasses ))redominant."** In the State of Michi- 

 gan the classes of land to be differentiated would include the following: 

 1) I>and appropriated to residential and industrial uses; 2) barrens, or 



*First published in Festschrift deiii deutsclien Geogrraphentag zii Innsbniok (1<»12); also 

 in Landerkunde der Ostcrreichisclien .Mpen 1)V the same author. 

 **Scottish Ceopr. Mas.. XX. diT: XXI. •.':(. .)7. 



