•522 'Jlie American GeoloijiHi. \ovombor, ih9»> 
niiist be takfu up first and finished, before others can be inquired into 
and mapped in detail. At the same time the work on various topics 
may go on over the whole region and the results of the investigations on 
the various deposits published and given to the public long before all 
the work of all the counties or districts is done. By careful planning 
beforehand there arises no duplication of work nor publication, and the 
reports meet the wants of two large classes of people — the one seeking 
information of a general character for the state as a whole, together 
with detailed information concerning the jiarticular adaptabilities, ac- 
cessil)ility, etc., of the different mineral substances; the other seeking 
detailed information regai'ding particular localities. The strictly scien- 
tific aspects are treated in the same manner. u. s. (;. 
^^1 Prelim.iiiav}! Report upon the Florida Parishen of East Loidsiuna 
and tlie Bluff, Prairie and Hill Lands ofSontlncest Louisiana. By W. 
W, Clendenin, Geologist, April, 189G. pp. 161-256. One must needs 
look everywhere now for information if one would remain posted on ge- 
ological literature. Time was once when a few periodicals or a few 
state surveys pulilished all the geological papers there were. Nowadays 
we have general periodicals and special ones: scientific society proceed- 
ings by the score: bulletins of museums: accounts of yn'ivate or public 
explorations: state and national surveys. The latest place in which one 
must look is in the file of imblications of the Agricultural Experiment 
stations, that have sprung up like mushrooms in the last few years. 
Fostered by the general government and with a guaranteed subsidy of 
$20,000 per annum, to be gradually increased until it reaches $25,000,poor 
indeed, is the State that cannot afford to set apart some portion of its 
domain as an experimental farm. Some of these stations have assumed 
work of a sort that seems, at first sight, outside of their legitimate 
sphere. Although in the cases where it would not be otherwise done, 
they are justified in inaugurating it. Louisiana, for example, has set on 
foot a geological reconnoissance of which three parts have been pub- 
lished. The first two, under the direction of OttoLerch, were published 
in 1892 and 1893,* the third is the one at present under notice. 
The "Florida Parishes" belong to that part of Louisiana that was 
not included in the Louisiana jmrchase, but was acquired later by "oc- 
cupation" l)y the Americans. The district reported on lies south of the 
.31st parallel and between the Pearl and the Mississippi rivers. South- 
western Louisiana, reported upon, is to the westof the Atchafalaya river 
to the Sabine, ".south of the latitude of Alexandria." Naturally in a 
survey like this, agricultural rather than geological, more attention is 
given to the soils than to the rocks making them or to the terranes to 
which they belong. While at the same time it is not an easy matter to 
trace the geological history where natural sections are few and where 
the alluvial covering is so extensive. After describing briefly the topo- 
graphic features of the country, it is noted that the Columbia and the 
LaFayette formations are those chiefly occui-ring. Soils and economic 
*.V Preliminary report iir>on the Hills of Louisiana, north of the Vicksburg-, 
Shreveport and Pacific railroad. Parts I and II, pp. 1(50. 
