r l HE IRRIGATION AGE. 



347 



he can go ahead with a reasonable certainty 

 of satisfactory results. In the first place, 

 the soil map will show what kind of agri- 

 cultural industry any given locality is best 

 adapted for, whether fruit raising, vege- 

 table growing, dairying, or general farm- 

 ing. The value of this to home-seeking 

 folk, who desire to engage in certain lines 

 of production, cannot be overestimated. 

 Then, after the general location is deter- 

 mined he will find the specific place on 

 which he best may succeed by consulting 

 the detailed description on the map of just 

 the piece of land required. 



The map will call attention to certain 

 troubles of soils which have been investi- 

 gated through chemical analyses. One of 

 these is acidity, which has an important 

 influence upon farming over large areas* 

 another is excess or deficiency or certain 

 elements of plant growth, which can be 

 supplied by fertilizers; and yet another is 

 alkali. As for alkali, seience has ascer- 

 tained both the source of it and the remedy. 

 It comes usually from wash from the 

 mountains, from salts carried on to the 

 land by irrigation, or from deposits laid 

 down at a period when the land was sea 

 bottom. The remedy is to under-drain the 

 land and wash out the alkali and to pre- 

 vent the accumulation of seepage water in 

 the subsoil. 



The map will give a basis for the intro~ 

 duction of new crops from abroad by show- 

 ing what areas are specially adapted to cer- 

 tain kinds of plants. It was incidental st 

 this investigation that the important fact 

 was ascertained that real Sumatra tobacco 

 could be grown in the Connecticut valley, 

 a discovery which will put millions of dol- 

 lars into the pockets of American produc-^ 

 ers. In these days of rapid agricultural 

 development it is of the utmost importance 

 to encourage in every possible way the in- 

 troduction and spread of new industries, 

 such as truck growing, fruit culture on im- 

 proved principles, etc., and the soil map 

 here described has an obvious and impor- 

 tant bearing upon all such problems. 



It is along these advanced lines of agri- 

 cultural development that the department 

 must do its most important work. It is 

 gratifying to note the order and consis- 

 tency with which the work is being pressed 

 toward certain definite results toward the 

 continued extension of the scope of our 

 agricultural products on the one hand and 

 the acquirement of power to produce from 

 a given piece of lano the utmost of which 

 it is capable of yielding, on the other. 

 With such a wealth of intelligent thought 

 and effort directed in its interest. Ameri- 

 can agriculture must steadily rise to higher 

 ground. 



