MAPPING AGRICULTURAL REGIONS. 13 



and that the distribution of native animals and plants may be coordi- 

 nated with the successful distribution of cultivated crops. In other 

 words, the study of the geographic distribution of our native or indig- 

 enous fauna and flora has resulted in the establishment of a number 

 of agricultural belts, each of which comprises several minor divisions 

 fit for particular varieties of fruits, cereals, and breeds of live stock. 



Through the intelligent efforts of man the slow x)rocesses of nature 

 have been hastened, so that most fruits and cereals have been made 

 to yield varieties adapted to a diversity of climatic conditions. The 

 happy outcome of this artificial selection is that, while certain 

 varieties of wheat, oats, corn, apples, pears, grapes, and so on, thrive 

 only in certain limited areas, different varieties thrive in other areas, 

 a very large proportion of crops having varieties fit for each of the 

 natural agricultural belts of the country. The same is true, though 

 perhaps in less degree, of poultry and live stock. 



The Biological Survey is engaged in tracing with as much precision 

 as possible the actual boundaries of these belts and areas, in prepar- 

 ing lists of the native or indigenous species, and of the fruits, grains, 

 vegetables, and other agricultural products that are adapted to each. 

 In this undertaking it aims to point out such exotic agricultural and 

 horticultural i^roducts as, from their importance in other lands, are 

 likely to prove of value if introduced on fit soils and under proper 

 climatic conditions. In view of the fact that all of the climatic life 

 zones of the world, except the hottest tropical, are rei3resented in our 

 own country, there can be little doubt that an intelligent study of the 

 agricultural products and adaptations of distant lands will result in 

 the discovery of fruits, vegetables, fibers, farm crops, and breeds of 

 stock which may be introduced into the United States not onlj^ with 

 profit, but which by diversifying our products and leading to the 

 development of new industries will render our agricultural resources 

 far more stable and certain. 



Tlie colored maps prepared by the Biological Survey furnish the 

 first rational basis the American farmer and fruit grower has ever 

 had for the intelligent distribution of seeds and the only reliable guide 

 he can find in ascertaining beforehand wliat crops and fruits are likely 

 to prove successful on his own farm, wherever it may be located. 

 These maps, in connection with the work of the Entomologist, show 

 also the belts along which noxious insects are likely to spread, fore- 

 warning the liusbandman of impending danger. 



In studying crops with relation to the zones or areas in which they 

 may be most profitablj' cultivated considerable progress has been 

 made. The results of an investigation of the zone adaptations of 

 several hundred varieties of fruits and nuts form a part of the pres- 

 ent report, and by cooperation with Prof. C. S. Plumb, director of the 

 agricultural exi^eriment station at Lafayette, Ind., the more impor- 

 tant results of a similar study of the varieties of corn, wheat, and oats 

 are also given. 



