6 The Farm Woodlot 



effects of different vegetation on the soil, the elements 

 used by different plants, and indicates the best method 

 of increasing fertility ; but as a means of determining the 

 true economic value of that soil it is wholly inadequate. 



The result is the same with the physical geological 

 analysis. It brings out certain facts regarding the soil 

 that are of value in testing the different theories of growth, 

 and in determining the results of various cultural opera- 

 tions. It does not touch the question of economic values. 



Reconnaissance, biological and ecological surveys de- 

 termine the kind of vegetation that the soil now sup- 

 ports, and the data secured in this way may be used by 

 the application of certain empirical laws to predict what 

 kind of commercial crops may be grown more or less 

 successfully on that quality of soil. But even then, al- 

 though they give more reliable data on the possibilities 

 of plant growth, they do not determine the economic 

 value of the soil. 



Why, then, are all these methods inadequate ? For the 

 very sufficient reason that the economic value of the land 

 depends only partly on its quality, and is in many cases 

 entirely independent of it. The value depends wholly on 

 economic conditions that may or may not involve the 

 quality of the soil as a factor; it may be a negligible 

 factor to-day and of vast importance to-morrow, and vice 

 versa. A piece of land in Nebraska ideal for the produc- 

 tion of corn had no economic value a hundred years ago ; 

 to-day its corn-producing capacity is worth $100 per 

 acre. And yet there are parts of that very corn land that 

 are to-day more valuable for other purposes, wholly inde- 

 pendent of its quality. 



