THE NEW EARTH 



ing three hundred and fifty date suckers, 

 representing forty-two varieties, nineteen va- 

 rieties of grapes from the Russian Caucasus, 

 thirty-three varieties of mangoes from central 

 India, one hundred and fifty-seven bushels of 

 berseem from the Nile valley, two thousand 

 pounds of the new Moravian barley, and two 

 hundred hardy Russian cherry trees, indicates 

 the progress being made in this direction. 



While the Department is doing much in the 

 way of the reclamation of arid soils, showing 

 by experimental work in alkali lands the value 

 of certain forms of drainage and other devices, 

 the work coming under the head of the soil 

 survey is of particular interest. Here the 

 practical help of the Department to those 

 whose living comes from the soil, and, indi- 

 rectly, to all the people, for all are, in a very 

 positive sense,' dependent upon the soil, is 

 shown. The Department has now surveyed 

 and mapped out bodies of land in thirty-three 

 states, aggregating, all told, nearly fifty mil- 

 lions of acres. Elaborate tests are made of the 

 soils in all the different areas in order that the 

 farmers, fruit-growers, grazers, or what not, in 

 each individual locality, may know the exact 



360 



