CHAPTER VIII 



SOIL SURVEYS BY THE UNITED STATES BUREAU OF SOILS 



THE Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture was organized in 1895, with Professor Milton Whitney as 

 Chief. The energies of this Bureau have been devoted largely to 

 making surveys of the soils in certain localities in most of the 

 different states; and, second, to laboratory investigations in sup- 

 port of a theory early announced by Whitney and Cameron, to 

 the effect that practically all soils contain sufficient plant food for 

 good crop yields, and that this supply will be indefinitely main- 

 tained. 



The soil surveys are of general interest but of doubtful value to 

 the local farmers and landowners, because they are reported with 

 practically no information concerning valuable methods of soil 

 improvement other than that based upon the actual practice al- 

 ready in vogue, the Bureau having conducted no systematic field 

 experiments and having reported practically no chemical analyses 

 of the various soil types identified. The mechanical analyses which 

 are almost invariably reported give little information of value fur- 

 ther than to support the soil surveyor's classification of the soils 

 into sandy soils, silty soils, clay soils, etc. Even the soil sur- 

 vey, as conducted by the Bureau, is often too general or superficial 

 in character to be of local use, differences in soils which are clearly 

 recognized by the farmers being often ignored or overlooked. 

 This will be better understood by examination of concrete illus- 

 trations ; such, for example, as a comparison of the Bureau's map 

 of Tazewell County, Illinois, published in the Report of Field 

 Operations* for 1902, with that of McLean County, which joins 

 Tazewell on the east, and which accompanies the Report for 1903; 

 or by a comparison of the Bureau's map of Clay County, Illinois 



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