76 ADDRESSES 



(and I think I might safely say many of those who call themselves scientists 

 instead of farmers) have not appreciated the importance of securing the variety 

 adapted to their particular soils. 



A MISGUIDED BENEFACTOR. 



A few years ago a prominent banker in this State saw an account of a 

 variety of wheat which the Kansas Experiment Station had found to produce very 

 much larger yields than other varieties. Being desirous of helping the farmers in 

 his section he secured 25 bushels of this wheat at $2.00 per bushel and distributed 

 it among his farmer friends, but reaped a harvest of disappointment as the wheat 

 proved much inferior to home varieties. The black soils, which are more like 

 those in Kansas than any others in this State, where the only ones upon which the 

 yield was at all satisfactory. By the soil survey we want to help eliminate such mis- 

 takes as this; we want to show public spirited citizens like this banker the lines 

 along which their enthusiasm can be expended to advantage. 



Similar illustrations could be supplied almost indefinitely, but these call 

 attention to the necessity of considering the soil factor in all variety or crop 

 adaptation studied. For if a variety, which is developed in a certain environ- 

 ment, will not do best when placed in different surroundings and if the soil 

 constitutes an essential part of this environment, then the change of a plant 

 from one soil to another may negative the good effects of years of patient 

 breeding. A knowledge of the character of the soil in different parts of the 

 State, therefore, becomes an essential and necessary corollary to a study of 

 variety adaptations. Such knowledge will be especially valuable in the plant- 

 ing of apples and other crops where years must elapse before returns are 

 secured and where a mistake means great loss of both time and money. 



SOIL TYPES AND THE LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY. 



In Bulletin 222* of the Ohio Experiment Station is published the "results 

 of a study of the mineral nutrients in blue grass, from which it appears that 

 some blue-grass pastures in Ohio contains twice as high percentages of the mineral 

 nutrients as others, these differences being due to differences in the soils upon 

 which the grasses were grown. It is also shown that the content of blue-grass in 

 mineral nutrients may be very greatly increased by the use of fertilizers. There 

 is every reason to believe that the grass on a soil which is rich in lime and 

 phosphorus is a better food and will produce more bone especially, and also more 

 muscle and more milk, than grass grown on unfertile soils." In a recent bulletin of 

 the West Virginia Experiment Station* it is stated that "The success or failure 

 of any poultry enterprise depends to a large extent upon the character of the 

 soil upon which the poultry plant is located, for if the soil is too heavy and 

 tenacious there is a tendency for disease germs to accumulate to such an extent 

 that after a time the fowls become unthrifty and unprofitable." It would seem, 

 therefore, that a knowledge of the soil will be of much value to the raiser of 

 stock or other animals as well as of plants. 



DIFFERENT SOILS REQUIRE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF SOIL MANAGEMENT. 



We have seen that the kind or variety of crop which a farmer can most 

 profitably grow depends to a certain extent at least upon the character of the soil. 

 It is just as necessary to consider these differences in connection with the meth- 

 ods of soil management which should be adopted. Whether to plow deep or 



*Summary of Bulletin 222 as given by Director Thorne in the Thirteenth 

 Annual Report Ohio Ex. Sta. p. xxiii. 



* Bulletin 135, West Virginia Experiment Station. 



