318 SOILS. 



and can therefore afford useful indications to the new settler, 

 a close physical and chemical characterization of lands should 

 be made the special object of study by the experiment stations 

 and public surveys, particularly in the newer states. 



Advantages for Soil Stnd\ offered by Virgin Lands. 

 Among the special advantages, then, offered by virgin soils for 

 the study of the correlations of soils and crops, the usual exist- 

 ence of a native flora, representing the results of secular adapt- 

 ation, is of fundamental importance. As it is at this time still 

 historically known of most lands west of the Alleghenies what 

 was their original timber growth, it is clear that their original 

 condition can still be ascertained by comparison with uncul- 

 tivated lands of similar growth, usually not very far away; 

 and as their cultural history also is largely within the memory 

 of the living generation, the behavior of such lands under cul- 

 tivation is known or verifiable. Foremost among the data 

 thus ascertainable is the duration of satisfactory crop produc- 

 tion, and its average amount. To ascertain these surviving 

 data by inquiry among the farming population should be 

 among the foremost duties of those connected with soil sur- 

 veys; and persons temperamentally unable to enlist the farm- 

 er's sympathy and interest in such inquiries must be consid- 

 ered seriously handicapped, no matter what their scientific 

 qualifications may be. In no quest is it more literally true 

 that there is no one from whom the earnest inquirer may not 

 learn something worth knowing. 



Practical Utility of Chemical Soil- Analysis; Permanent 

 J'alue vs. Immediate Productiveness. In many existing trea- 

 tises so much emphasis is given to the alleged proofs of the in- 

 utility of chemical soil examination in particular, that a special 

 controversion of these arguments seems necessary, in connec- 

 tion with a detailed statement of what can, and in part has 

 been, done in that direction. Hence the often-repeated 

 allusion, in the sequel, to points bearing on this question. 

 Hence, also, the detailed discussion of many points which in 

 most agricultural publications are given only passing notice. 



/;/ all tJiese discussions the difference between the ascertain- 

 ment of the permanent-productive value of soils, as against 

 that of their immediate producing capacity, must be strictly 



