No. 4.] U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 195 



Biological Survey will tell him beforehand what crops he 

 can and what he can not hope to cultivate with reasonable 

 prospect of success, thus saving the hundreds of thousands 

 of dollars now thrown away each year in attempting to 

 force crops to grow in areas where they cannot possibly 

 succeed. The Biological Survey has completed a prelimi- 

 nary survey of the United States and has published a 

 colored map of the life and crop belts, accompanied by lists 

 of the varieties of fruits and farm crops adapted to each. 

 It is now engaged in a much more detailed survey, which, 

 when completed, should prove of benefit to every farmer in 

 the land. 



Office of Road Inquiry. 



The popularity of the work of the Office of Road Inquiry 

 has steadily increased since the organization of the office 

 several years ago. Its employees are principally engaged 

 at the present time in building object-lesson roads in differ- 

 ent sections of the country. In this they have the hearty 

 co-operation of a number of local authorities in different 

 States, and it is intended not only to contribute something 

 by way of co-operation on the part of the general govern- 

 ment, but also to secure co-operation on the part of as many 

 of the different interests connected with the road question as 

 possible. The local community having the road built is of 

 course most largely interested. The railroad companies 

 generally co-operate, because they are interested in having 

 better roads to and from railroad stations ; they therefore 

 contribute by transporting free of charge, or at very low 

 rates, machinery and such foreign materials as are needed in 

 the construction of a road. Manufacturers of earth-handlingf 

 and road-building machinery co-operate by furnishing all 

 the needed machinery for the most economical construction 

 of the road, and in many cases prison labor is used in pre- 

 paring material for the road bed. Contribution made by 

 the general government in this scheme is both actually and 

 relatively small, and it is by means of this limited co-opera- 

 tion that it has been possible to produce a large number of 

 object-lesson roads in different States. These have proven 

 to be beneficial not only in showing the scientific side of 



