154 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



to acquire a knowledge in the course of a 

 generation that has required hundreds of years 

 in the older countries. 



This task is being carried out by the Bureau 

 of Soils in Washington. It is the intention, 

 figuratively at least, to make a card-index of 

 our acres ; quite a task when we consider that 

 nearly a billion acres are nominally in farms. 

 In this work the Bureau of Soils is aided by 

 the previous work of the Geological Survey 

 as to the geological origin of soils, and by the 

 Weather Bureau as to meteorological con- 

 ditions. 



First comes the grand classification of soil 

 provinces in the light of geological formation. 

 Thus we have a map representing the result of 

 a detailed survey of over 106 million acres of 

 farm lands up to the year 1911 represent- 

 ing provinces derived from various agencies, 

 among the most important of which are the 

 disintegration of old crystalline and meta- 

 morphic rocks, glacial action, the sediment of 

 rivers, the washing of waves and tides, the resi- 

 due of lakes and the retreating ocean, wind 

 attrition, heat metamorphism, volcanic action, 

 etc. There are in all thirteen great soil prov- 

 inces, differing from each other both as to the 



