214 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD, 



SOILS— FERTILIZERS. 



The use of soil surveys, J. A. Bonsteel (I. ,S. Dc/tt. Afjr. Ycarhoolc 190G, 

 pp. 181-188). — Attention is called to the vast extent and largely undeveloped 

 state of the soil resources of the United States. The soil survey of the Bureau 

 of Soils, in anticipation of the time " when the farm land now in use must be 

 handled more intensively and more effectively and each acre must be made to 

 produce to its maximmn capacity the crops for which it is best fitted, ... is 

 examining into the total soil resources of the country and investigating the 

 broad problems of the relationship of soil to crop." 



The soil survey work began in 1899, and by June 30, 190G, ,a total area of 

 118,G8G square miles, or 75,959,865 acres, in 4.3 States and 4 Territories, had 

 been mapped. The surveys thus cover something less than one-tenth of the area 

 actually in farms and about one-twenty-fifth of the entire area of the United 

 States. " They have been so distril)uted as to constitute numerous studies of 

 each important geographical and agricultui'al district. . . . The soil survey recog- 

 nizes at present 13 great soil provinces, 58 soil series, and 461 soil tj'pes. Of 

 these types some 1.30 are more or less local in character, while the remainder 

 are of widespread occurrence within their respective provinces." 



In making the surveys account is taken both of the character of the soil dif- 

 fei'ences and the effects which they produce in the growing of farm crops. 



" The individual report upon each soil-survey area contains an account of each 

 soil type within the area. It gives a description of the characteristic appearance 

 of the type and sunmiarizes the crop uses to which it is put within the area. 

 The methods of handling the soil are given, and a general statement is also 

 made of the range of crop production. Such a rei)ort summarizes the actual uses 

 of the soil within these restricted limits, and it also summarizes the farm prac- 

 tices in the given region. Each report also contains an account of the crops 

 raised in other areas where the same type of soil has been encountered ; and 

 suggestions as to new crops, new methods of soil management, and new industries 

 are made as a result of this wider knowledge secured from numerous surveys. 



" From these reports on soil surveys the individual farmer may learn the rela- 

 tionships of the soils upon his own farm, not only to the other soils in the imme- 

 diate neighborhood, but to soils of the same .character in widely separated 

 regions. He may thus observe and study understandingly the methods and 

 results obtained under the most favorable conditions by successful farmers upon 

 these soils." 



The soil surveys also aid that large class of persons who for various reasons 

 desire to secure new farms in* more or less distant localities for the pursuit of 

 general agriculture or for the production of special crops ; large investment com- 

 panies dealing in farm lands, and educational institutions engaged in the study 

 and teaching of soil subjects. 



No less important than these immediate and present uses will be the use of 

 these surveys to supply future need for information regarding crop and soil 

 adaptations which will result from increasing population, with greater intensity 

 of cultivation, greater demands upon the soil, and greater precision and skill in 

 the selection and handling of soils for special crops. 



B-eclamation of white-ash lands affected with alkali at Fresno, California, 

 W. W. Mackie (U. 8. Dcpt. Agr., Bur. Soils Bui. .'/.l, pp .'/?. fins. 2). — This is an 

 account of the work of the Bureau of Soils in reclaiming a tract of 20 acres 

 of alkali land about 4* miles southwest of Fresno by drainage and flooding. 

 The work began in 1900 with a survey of the Fresno district, including the 

 white-ash lands affected by the rise of alkali. The actual operation of flooding 

 and drainage began in November, 1902, when a drainage system consisting of 



