EDITOEIAL. 727 



to this the cost of the reguhir and special reports, which are printed 

 by order of Congress, brings the amount for printing the Department 

 pu])lications up to approximately three-quarters of a million dollars. 



In the last tiscal year the Department issued 757 publications, in an 

 aggregate edition of 10,586,580 copies, some six million of which were 

 Farmers' Bulletins. The cost of printing the publications is now 

 equivalent to less than 20 per cent of the total appropriation for the 

 Department, whereas during the first twenty years of its existence 

 the cost of printing was more than half of the whole expenditure; 

 that is, the cost of distribution of information considerably exceeded 

 the amount expended in its acquisition. Although the number and 

 cost of publications increases steadily every year and the output is now 

 enormous, the productive power of the Department has increased in 

 far greater proportion, and where one thousand dollars is now spent 

 for the dissemination of information, five thousand is expended in the 

 acquisition of knowledge. 



The increase in appropriation for the Bureau of Soils provided for 

 next year Avill be used in extending the soil survey and in the tobacco 

 work. Surveys will be made this season in thirty-two States, instead 

 of twenty-six as the past season. Twenty parties are now preparing 

 to go into the held for the season's work, which will be taken up, as a 

 rule, April 1. The assignments for these parties cover three periods 

 in each case, i. e., April 1 to July 1, July 1 to October 1, and October 

 1 to January 1. A change of location is frequently indicated for each 

 period, and this is usually made in conformity with the advancing 

 season. For example, one held party will survey the tobacco soils 

 between Viroqua and Sparta, Wis., during the tirst quarter, then 

 proceed to Davidson Countj^, Tenn., for the second ([uarter, and 

 spend the last quarter in Lauderdale County, Ala. Another 

 party will work in the Connecticut Valley during the spring and sum- 

 mer, extending the survey of 1899 up the northern boundary of 

 Massachusetts, and during the last quarter of the year will survey 

 the southeastern portion of the Harpers Ferry district in Virginia. 

 A third party will spend the first quarter near Provo, Utah, the second 

 in the Milk River district of Montana, and the last in a survey of the 

 area between The Needles, California, and Yuma, Ariz., in which it 

 will be joined by three other field parties. 



In several cases the entire season will be spent in the same State or 

 region. This is the case with the survey of Long Island, and of the 

 Santa Clara and Sacramento valleys in California. Parties will spend 

 the whole season in Illinois and in Louisiana making surveys in several 

 localities of these States, with the aid and cooperation of the experi- 

 ment stations. 



In all, over fifty counties and localities are mentioned in the 

 assignments for the year, which will be found on p. 825. This 



