10 



places where conditions of soil and climate similar to those of western 

 Maryland were found. 



Another example of the value of the Bureau's recommendations is 

 furnished by the soil survey in the Pecos Valley, New Mexico. In 

 the report on this survey a strong recommendation was made to 

 increase the amount of alfalfa grown and to develop the stock-raising 

 industry. During the few years which have elapsed since that rec 

 ommendation was made attempts at growing fruits and field crops to 

 which the soils and climate were not suited have been largely aban- 

 doned, and in their place a profitable stock-raising industry has been 

 developed. 



The soil survey is of considerable value also in furnishing instruc- 

 tion as to the cultivation of different kinds of soils in various parts of 

 the country. That sand}'" soils and heavy clay soils require widely 

 different methods of cultivation has long been known, but the great 

 importance of this has been most clearly brought out b} T the compara- 

 tive methods of the soil survey. For example, the proper cultivation 

 of the sandy soils in the cotton-growing districts of the South Atlantic 

 States is well understood, but the productive value of the clay soils is 

 so little appreciated that they have never been given the importance 

 which they deserve. These clay soils would be more productive than 

 the sandy soils if they were properly cultivated. By calling to the 

 attention of the farmers in these districts the profitable yields obtained 

 from similar lands in other parts of the country, and by showing 

 them that the crop yields on those heavy soils would give them a 

 larger net profit, even though the cost of cultivation be greater than 

 on the sandy soils, the Bureau expects to bring about the cultivation 

 of productive soils which have remained practically untouched. 



As an illustration of the monetary value of the Bureau's work in 

 establishing the relation between soils and crops, it may be stated that 

 the soils of the Connecticut Valley, which the Bureau declared were 

 adapted to the growing of a superior wrapper tobacco, increased in 

 value more than threefold. The successful termination of the Bureau's 

 experiments in growing Cuban filler tobacco will double or treble the 

 price of certain soil types in our Southern States. Other instances of 

 the increase of land values through the discovery of the adaptation of 

 certain soils to special crops may be cited. The trucking soils of the 

 Atlantic seaboard have increased of late years from a nominal value of 

 $5 an acre to $200 or more an acre. The rice lands of Louisiana have 

 increased in value from $5 to $50 an acre. The Florida soils, adapted 

 to the growing of pineapples, have risen in value from practically 

 nothing to over $500 an acre. 



Yet another advantage of the work of the soil survey is the accurate 

 basis which it furnishes for further experimentation. The mapping 

 of the different soils in the several States serves as a true guide for 



