4.6 The National Geographic Magazine 



hardy Vladmir cherry from Russia (dis- 

 tributed in the Northwest), and many 

 others. 



NITROGEN-FIXING BACTERIA 



Extensive practical tests were made 

 the past season with nitrogen bacteria 

 for use in connection with the legumi- 

 nous crops. Results have been even 

 more successful than was anticipated. 

 The several strains of bacteria sent out 

 from the department have proved valu- 

 able even on soils containing the uncul- 

 tivated organisms in abundance. The 

 material for inoculating an acre of soil 

 costs the department about one cent per 

 acre and the farmers scarcely anything 

 to apply it. The demand for the organ- 

 isms is constantly increasing. 



THE SOIL SURVEY 



The study of soils and their manage- 

 ment with regard to their values for pro- 

 ducing crops has been continued. Soils 

 vary greatly in the several states, and a 

 general knowledge of their composition 

 is of prime importance before the tiller 

 can put them to their most profitable 

 use. The Bureau of Soils is mapping 



the various areas to the end that resi- 

 dents on each may as soon as possible 

 learn the peculiarities with which they 

 have to deal. The department is seek- 

 ing to introduce plants from foreign 

 countries to diversify American agri- 

 culture. A knowledge of the character 

 of the soils from which they come and 

 on which they have been developed is 

 imperative, and suggests the wisdom of 

 becoming familiar with the soils as well 

 as the climate to which these new plants 

 are introduced. 



The total area surveyed and mapped 

 by the bureau during the fiscal year was 

 over 29,000 square miles, and the total 

 area surveyed at the close of the fiscal 

 year exceeded 74,000 square miles, or 

 47,868, 800 acres. During the past year 

 68 areas in the different states were 

 surveyed. A table presents the area 

 surveyed in 1904, and previously re- 

 ported in each state, and shows that the 

 total cost of the year's survey was 

 $72,601.41, of which $2,377.57 was paid 

 by state organizations. The cost of 

 work in the field per square mile was 

 therefore $2.21, and the average total 

 cost per square mile, $2.50. 



EDUCATING THE FILIPINOS 



THE last report of the Superin- 

 tendent of Education of the 

 Philippine Islands, David P. 

 Barrows, describes very clearly the edu- 

 cational policy that has been adopted 

 for the Filipinos and the manner in 

 which that policy is being carried out. 

 The following paragraphs are from the 

 report : 



THE FILIPINO DIALECTS CANNOT BE 

 DEVELOPED INTO A NATIONAL 

 LANGUAGE 



There are between 40 and 50 dialects 

 in the Philippine Islands. The question 

 has been frequently raised whether these 



Filipino languages are sufficiently re- 

 lated so as to fuse into one common 

 tongue, and the Bureau of Education has 

 received its most vigorous criticism in 

 the United States because of its alleged 

 attempt to supplant and destroy what 

 might, in the opinion of absentee critics, 

 become a national and characteristic 

 speech. Such criticisms could only pro- 

 ceed from a profound ignorance of the 

 nature of these languages and the people 

 who speak them. All of these dialects 

 belong to one common Malayan stock. 

 Their grammatical structure is the same. 

 The sentence in each one of them is 

 built up in the same way. The strik- 



