AORICULTrRAL AI'lMUiPKIATlOX HIM>, l!r24. 281 



Mr. liri ii.WAN. Tln'ri. us I uiul«Tslatnl it. llu* result of this appro- 

 priation is t!u» |)ro<In<"tiori of innf)s with the urcompMiivint; pxpla- 

 natious f 



Doctor Whiim:^. "l cs. Mr. 



Mr. JiiiiiANVN. ( >f rourst', my Slati' is ti cotnparativplv now 

 State, tluit is. a yoiin<; State from an agricultural standpoint, hut 

 in tlu'so older States, \vh«*re the land is npjoniinp inipovi-rished hy 

 eoiisfant use. are they iisini^ these maps to any extent f 



Doctor WniTNKY. Oh, yes; they are usirjj^ them in the older States 

 and in the Western and newer States. Here is a sample map (indi- 

 catin<;l. 



Mr. Bt ( II AN AN. I have seen the maps. 



Doctor \\ iiiT.NKY. This is a proi^ress mat) of the soil survey. 



Mr. BiTHAXAN. The reason I tusked tlie cjuestion was this: My 

 county has heen surveyed and I have ahout five or si.\ thousand maps 

 of it at my httme. 1 have puhlished the fact that I have them 



Doctor Whitney (interposin«]j). You <mly had 2. ()()(). 



Mr. Bi'cHANAN. Well, it looks like five or six thousand. They are 

 stacked up there, anyway. I puhlished the fact that I have them for 

 <iistril)Ution. hut 1 ran not jjjive them away. 



Doctor Whitney. Have you taken it up with Doctor Younj^hlood. 

 who is in charjie of the State ( He looks after tho.se thiiiop in the 

 State. 



Mr. Bic HANAN. 1 have not taken it up with him, hecause the maps 

 are on the crn)und and the people are dowii there on thejrround. 



Doctor Whitney. 1 do not know what our requests are for that 

 particular locality. In what part of the State are you — in the east- 

 ern or western part ( 



Mr. Buchanan In the south-central part. 



Doctor Marbut. Washington County, is it ^ 



Mr. BicHANAN. We have some poor land there, too. and we are not 

 fertilizing; it. 



Doctor ALvRBUT. I think you are rather assuming a function for the 

 Soil Survey that is not its most important function. The real function 

 of the Soil Survey maps, in addition to giving the farmer certain 

 information, is to furnish the experiment stations with a hasis for 

 further study or follow-up. as we call it, of the Soil Survey. The 

 experiment station, for example, goes on to the soils that are identified 

 in Washington County 



Mr. BuciLvxAX (interposing). The real purpose of the maps, then, 

 is a scientific purpose and it is for those who are scientifically trained { 



Doctor Marbit. It is for a scientific purpose and it is for those *vho 

 are scientifically trained, yes, and it is used hy those who are scien- 

 tifically trained as a hasis for further investigations in order to get 

 information that is directly applicahle to the farmer. That is the 

 object of the Soil Survey. 



Doctor Whitney. It has a scientific basis and, as a matter of fact, 

 the Soil Survey map is relied upon by settlers who are seeking informa- 

 tion about new localities. Then, too, it is used by the banks, the 

 farm loan banks, and the Federal reserve banks. A member of the 

 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago was in my office last week in order 

 to complete his list of the maps of their territory, because they find 

 those maps of very great help to them in connection with the banking 

 business they do. 



