hires a horse and buggy and carries on its work about as follows: 

 Driving along a road, one or both of the men go out into the fields for 

 a distance of half a mile, more or less, according to the character of 

 the country and the position of other roads, and take frequent borings. 

 They examine the material carefully, noting the texture, whether sand, 

 silt, or clay, the changes which take place at varying depths, the pres- 

 ence of gravel, the drainage conditions, and the character of the crops 

 or native vegetation. If the borings show a sandy loam to a depth of 

 6 or 8 inches, and below this a loam grading into a clay at a depth 

 of 24 to 30 inches, the soil would probably be called a sandy loam or a 

 loam, according to the general character of the material as a whole. 

 If these conditions were found to prevail over a considerable area, this 

 sandy loam, or loam, would be recognized as a type and a name given 

 it. Moving forward with their work, if the party found that the 

 material changed, either in the surface soil or in the subsoil, sufficiently 

 to influence plant growth, the character of this change would be noted; 

 and if it were of sufficient importance and covered an appreciable area, 

 a new type would be established. The boundary between the two 

 types would then be traced out, the character of the vegetation 

 or crops, and the physiography of the country frequently being 

 important aids in this work. 



Separate samples of the soil and of the subsoil are sent in to the 

 Bureau's laboratories from a number of borings in each of the soils, 

 the number depending upon the extent and importance of the area or 

 the agricultural problems presented therein. These samples are 

 examined in the laboratories, a mechanical analysis is made to show 

 the grade of material composing the soil, and such chemical work is 

 done as experience may indicate will be of probable value in explain- 

 ing the conditions encountered in the area. 



During the months that the parties are in the field the}' are careful 

 to observe the character and yield of the crops. They are instructed 

 to obtain all possible information from the farmers as to the methods 

 of cultivation, the relation of the soils to drought and to drainage, and 

 in general to acquire the fullest knowledge of the farming conditions 

 in the area. It is clearly recognized that the climate has much to do 

 with the relation of soils to crops, and for this reason a brief state- 

 ment of the climatic conditions is always given in the reports. It is 

 also recognized that certain economic conditions, frequently local, 

 have a controlling influence upon the relative crop values of soils. 

 The chief among these are the questions of convenience and cost of 

 transportation, the market conditions, and the conditions with respect 

 to labor. These matters are brought out as clearly as possible in the 

 reports of the work. 



An idea of the growth of the soil survey work may be gained by com- 

 paring the figures for the year 1900 with those for the year 1904. At 



