294 SOIL TYPES [chap. 



nature and extent of already existing alkali patches, 

 and the most promising methods of reclamation, are 

 also prominent features in the work of the United 

 States soil survey. As the crops in a new country of 

 this kind are in the main grown by the aid of the 

 natural fertility of the soil alone, and fertilisers are 

 little used, the chemical examination of the soil becomes 

 of less importance than the mechanical. 



In a settled country like our own, the character of 

 the information to be derived from a soil survey is of a 

 different order ; the land has been under cultivation so 

 long that a great mass of local information, based upon 

 experience, exists as to the character even of individual 

 fields. 



Hints as to the cultivation, based upon the texture 

 of the soil as determined by analysis, would be too 

 general to be of any service ; indeed, it is rather to 

 be hoped that by collating many mechanical analyses 

 with the information derived from men possessing long 

 experience of the soil, further light can be shed upon 

 the connection between physical structure and the finer 

 points of tillage. The suitability of the different types 

 of soil to new crops — as, for example, the extension of 

 the area under fruit — can be ascertained, and many 

 expensive mistakes due to planting on unsuitable land 

 could be saved to the farmer. Suggestions can also be 

 made as to the amelioration of the soil by drainage, or 

 by the incorporation of materials like clay, chalk, or 

 marl, occurring in the vicinity. Fifty years ago, no 

 department of British agriculture was more carefully 

 attended to than the improvement of the texture of 

 the soil, and great tracts of what is now fertile land 

 were practically created ; lower values to-day have 

 caused this important matter to be almost entirely 

 neglected. 



