EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XII. No. 8. 



The 83'stematic investigation of the soils of Russia was begun over 

 twentv years ago by Prof. Y. Dokouchaj'ev, of the University of St. 

 Petersburg, under the auspices of the Imperial Economic Societ3^ 

 This work began with the study of the characteristic soil type known 

 as chernozem, but has been extended, mainly by a system of coopera- 

 tion between Professor Dokouchayev and his pupils in different parts 

 of Russia, to include all of the principal soil types of European Russia. 

 Prominent among these collaborators is Prof. N. Sibirtzev, of the Agri- 

 cultural and Forestry Institute of Novo-Alexandria. The work is 

 supported partly by Government institutions and partly by private 

 contril)utions. The published accounts of these investigations include 

 a hundred or more papers in .scientitic journals and official reports and 

 documents. 



In eastern European Russia an important series of soil investigations 

 has been carried on l)y Pi-ofes.sors Sikorzhinski and Rizpolozhenski. of 

 Kazan University, and their pupils, working independently of Dokou- 

 chayev and his associates. This work is supported by the local govern- 

 ments and by agricultural societies. The published accounts of it 

 include over twenty papers, reports, etc. 



The development of soil studies in Russia also owes much to the 

 skillful and accurate anal3'tical work done by the late P. Kostichev, 

 of St. Petersburg, as well as to that of Prof. G. Thoms on the soils of 

 the region Riga, who also pursued their investigations independently. 



It is with the work of Dokouchayev, however, that scientists are 

 most concerned. He has founded a new school of soil investigation, 

 the fundamental idea of which is the conception of the soil as an inde- 

 pendent natural body. With tlie collaboration of Sibirtzev, this idea 

 has been utilized in the elaboration of a so-called genetic or natural 

 classification of soils, which, in the stud}' of soil formations, requires a 

 differentiation between the parent rock species and the cultivated hori- 

 zon. His classification differs fundamentally from the petrographic 

 and physico-chemical classifications commonly followed by investiga- 

 tors who have dealt with soils which have been profoundly modified 

 under culture, rather than with those in a largely virgin condition, as 

 in Russia and in the western United States. 



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