124 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



general agricultural purposes.' On the coastal-plain portion, which 

 covers the greater part of the area, sandy and silty soils predomi- 

 nate, adapted to cotton and to the production of a fine quality of 

 bright tobacco. In the lower part of the area around Newbern the 

 trucking industry has been largely developed on the light sandy soils 

 of that area. The relation of these 16 types of soil to crops was every- 

 where quite pronounced, and in the report the special adaptations 

 were pointed out and the relative value of each soil for the different 

 classes of crops was shown. There are considerable areas of muck 

 soils, which should be used for the special crops adapted to such soil 

 conditions. There are also large areas of pocoson and savanna soils, 

 which will require extensive improvement in the way of drainage 

 before they can be made at all productive or safe for crops. There is 

 also a considerable area of Garner stony loam, which consists of from 

 6 to 15 inches of a sandy loam, containing from 40 to 60 per cent of rock 

 fragments and gravel, underlaid by a stiff red brick clay. The over- 

 lying soil material is firmly compacted and has the effect of macadam, 

 rendering cultivation exceedingly difficult and making the soil adapted 

 only to forest growth. The Selma silt loam is the most valuable soil 

 for bright tobacco, especially in its sandy phases on the ridges that 

 traverse the area. In its siltier phases it is one of the finest cotton 

 soils of the locality. Altogether, the soil maps are full of detail, as 

 the types very often are in small areas, but as their agricultural val- 

 ues are very marked the possibilities are shown of improvement 

 through the adaptation of crops particularly suited to each type of 

 soil. 



In May, 1901, the party proceeded to Pennsylvania and started a 

 survey of the Lebanon area, but the results of this work will not be 

 given at this time. 



FIELD WORK IN PROGRESS AND ARRANGED FOR. 



In the latter part of June, 1901, parties were organized and sent to 

 Chautauqua County, N. Y., and Allegan County, Mich. The areas 

 surveyed during the fiscal year, however, were so small that no results 

 can be given at this time. Other parties were sent out the 1st of July 

 to Montgomery County, Tex.; Montgomery County, Tenn.; Salem 

 County, N. J., and Ada County, Idaho, and arrangements have been 

 about completed for work in the fall of 1901 in Georgia, Florida, Mis- 

 sissippi, Louisiana, and in the Colorado Desert of southern California, 

 as well as in Arizona. 



DRAINAGE INVESTIGATIONS. 



Attention has frequently been called in the reports of the Division 

 of Soils to the possibility and feasibility of reclaiming alkali lands 

 and preventing the deterioration of lands from alkali by efficient 

 underdrainage. This has been dwelt upon by other writers and pre- 

 sented in the strongest possible terms as the most rational and safe 

 method of solving the alkali problem. Unfortunately, on account of 

 the conservatism of growers, these recommendations have received 

 little or no attention, and there is no general recognition of the possi- 

 bilities of controlling the problem in this way. Owners who are not 

 at present troubled with alkali do not appreciate the necessity of pro- 

 tecting themselves; and it is a curious fact that just before the alkali 

 becomes so strong as to prevent profitable cultivation the crop yields 

 are the largest. After that the lands deteriorate so rapidly that the 



