11 



further experimental work, whether with methods of cultivation, or 

 of crop rotation, or with different manures and fertilizers. So fully 

 is the value of this work realized that some of the State organizations 

 use the soil survey maps as a basis for locating their experimental 

 farms. 



In several instances the Bureau of Soils has rendered valuable serv- 

 ice to would-be settlers in undeveloped sections of the country. The 

 incorporation of companies to open up and to advertise large tracts 

 of land sometimes leads to the exploitation of regions unsuited to 

 agriculture. The agents of the Bureau have been called on from 

 time to time to investigate these lands, and in some cases have dis- 

 covered that they were of little or no value to. intended settlers, either 

 because of the presence of alkali or because they were not adapted to 

 the only crop suited to the area (as is the case with certain soils in the 

 great wheat belt of the Northwest), and the publication of these facts 

 has saved many home seekers from investing their all in ventures 

 which were bound to prove unprofitable. 



In all its work the Bureau of Soils aims at practical results. Its 

 reports deal with everyday problems, and are written with as little 

 use of technical terms as possible. It is not meant by this that the 

 Bureau disregards the scientific side of the many problems with which 

 it has to deal. It has two laboratories one for chemical and one for 

 physical analyses in charge of experts of acknowledged ability. The 

 few technical bulletins issued by the Bureau have attracted no little 

 attention from investigators in this line of work. But the technical 

 scientific work has been subordinated to the attainment of practical 

 results. 



TOBACCO INVESTIGATIONS. 



In connection with the soil survey the Bureau has carried on experi- 

 ments and demonstration work in growing and handling tobacco. 

 A soil similar to the -best tobacco soil of the island of Cuba has been 

 found in several of our Southern States, notably in Texas and Ala- 

 bama, and experiments in growing the "Cuban filler" tobacco have 

 been carried on for two seasons. While not as fine as the imported 

 Cuban tobacco, the product is believed by experts in the trade to be 

 the finest cigar-filler tobacco ever grown in the United States. It is 

 thought that a profitable filler industry will be established in the South 

 as a result of these experiments. 



The discovery of a soil in the Connecticut Valley remarkably similar 

 to the soil in the island of Sumatra, on which the fine Sumatra wrap- 

 per leaf is grown, led the Bureau to experiment with the growing of 

 a line wrapper leaf in several parts of the Connecticut Valley. The 

 tobacco is grown from imported Sumatra seed, under coarse cheese- 

 cloth tents, and a very superior wrapper leaf has been produced. 



