1-i Instruction)^ to Fidd l\irtiei<. 



all correspondence necessary to the conduct of the survey, pay all 

 field expenses of the party, and forward monthly expense aci-ounts 

 to the office of the Bureau in Washington. The field assistant 

 shall perform all duties required of him by the assistant in charge. 



The organization of the Bureau has reached a point where it is 

 no longer possible to put all the experienced men of the field force 

 in charge of parties, while it is desirable that each member of the 

 force should have the duties and responsibilities of the charge of 

 a party for at least a part of the year. It will be necessary, there- 

 fore, occasionally to put men of equal experience in the same 

 assignment, or to give men of less experience assistants who have 

 been longer in the service. In such cases it is expected that the 

 men will cheerfully share the responsibilities and details of the 

 work, and show a spirit of real collaboration. So far as possible 

 each man of experience will be given charge of a party for at least 

 one assignment each year. 



Prosecution of field work. — All mapping should be on a scale of 

 1 inch to 1 mile. Where possible, base maps on this scale will be 

 furnished all field parties before entering the field. Wherever 

 such maps are supplied it is supposed that they are the most 

 reliable and complete maps obtainable. Field parties should 

 endeavor to correct the base map if it is found in error. Frequent 

 check upon directions should be made with the compass, and all 

 distances on roads are to be measured with the odometer. Where 

 from the nature of the error it is found impossible to make cor- 

 rection, the soil map should conform to the base used, but careful 

 note should be made of all such errors, so that in case a revised 

 edition of the map is published the correction can be made with- 

 out a resurvey of the soils. 



Establishing soil types. — At the end of this pamphlet is given a 

 concise description of all the types of soil described by this Bureau 

 up to December 31, 1908. In establishing types in an area this 

 list should be carefully consulted, and where possible all soils are 

 to be correlate! with types there described. As soon as a type 

 is determined upon, whether new or previously descril)ed, a 

 description of it should be sent to the Bureau on Form 4(). The 

 selection of a provisional name for each soil type should be made, 

 and in all correspondence and reports this name should be used 

 when speaking of the type. 



