Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-10-17
Mistsllansuus Readins.
SURVEYING THE SOIL.

SURVEYING THE SOIL.
Ono of the Biggest Jobs Uncle San
Has Undertaken.
Copyright, 1911, by Frank G. Carpen
ter.
Washington.-I write today of TIN
most stupendous undertaking that Un
Gle Sam has ever attempted. 1t is tn,
making Of an inventory and work
ing plans for our biggest nationa
asset. I refer to the government
survey Of our soils. Our eyes bulg,
when we think Of our enormous re-
sources in mines, of the gold, silver
copper and coal and the mighty bed!
of iron which keep our industrie!
moving. Nevertheless they are moth
ing when compared with our receipt.
from the soil. Take all the gold, sill.
yer and copper that the world pro.
duces in one year, and its value would
not be half that of the corn crop. Al
the gold dug out of the earth in 1917
would not buy half the cotton we shall
raise this year, and it would take
twenty times the gold product Of the
world to pay for what we are annu.
ally receiving from the farms. The
amount is close to $4,000, 100000. Since
the discovery of America, the tota
value of the precious metals which
have been mined aggregates less thar
$27, ,000, 900. In other words. three
crops like that of last year would
equal all the gold and silver taken out
Of the ground since the Spaniards lee
by Columbus came across the Atlantic
to begin their robbery Of the Aztecs
and the Incas. That was 419 years
ago, and since that the whole world
has been digging and delving to gel
out that silver and gold. Within the
last thirteen years our little army oi
farmers has taken from the earth crops
which are worth more than $S1,000,-
O00, 900, or three times the product oi
the gold and silver mines for more
than 400 years.
Big Things From the Soil.
Before describe the survey let me
say q word more as to some OF the
things we get from the soil. The corn
crop is the greatest. 1t amounted last
year to 5000, 100000 bushels, and was
worth more than $1,50O,O00, 900. New
ertheless, it was dug from the ground
in a little less than 1G0 days, and the
government experts tell us that II the
crop is rightfully handled its amount
can be doubled. That crop comes from
q comparatively small area. Until
within the last decade the most Of II
was raised in the north. Last yeal
almost 1,O0O,OOO,OO0 bushels came
from the south, and that had a value
close to $50O,00O,OO0. 1t was created
because the south had begun to learn
more about the soil, and 1t Is but the
beginning Of an enormous wealth
which further knowledge will bring.
The cotton crop brought in an ag-
gregate Of something like 100000, 900
and that notwithstanding the weevil
which had we not learned more about
the soil since its coming, would have
wiped more than half our cotton plan
tations from the face Of the earth. And
then there is the hay crop, amounting
to so, 10000 tons, and worth more than
$700, 900, 900; the wheat crop which
was almost as valuable, and our oats
which exceeded 1000, 100000 bushels
to say nothing Of potatoes, sugar, to-
bacco and barley, each Of which rar
high into the millions. All this comes
from the soil and the product depends
on just what the soil is. The agricul-
tural experts say that in nine cases out
Of ten every crop can be largely in
creased, provided the right crop Is
chosen for the right place and the cul-
tivation properly done. 1t Is to show
Just what your soil is and how you
should treat it to make it do best that
Uncle Sam Is working in this great
soil survey.
But think what a mighty job 1t Is
Think of going over the United States
with an auger, an inch and half In
diameter and three feet in length, and
boring down into every ten acre fielo
to find just what kind Of soil it con-
tains. That is what Uncle Sam Is do
ing. He has already tested the most
of the lands of the great plains, and
has actually made soil maps and work
ing plans for a territory larger thar
France, Germany or the Spanish Pc
ninsula. He has mapped and analyzet
the soils of considerably more thar
100, ,0O0,00O acres in the eastern part o.
this country, having completed the
work over enough land to make foui
states as big as Illinois, or five the
size of Ohio or Kentucky.
This testing has been done by coun'
ties or small areas picked out at some
distances apart, so that a genera
of the soils lying between
Is already known. 1t shows just wha'
the soils are, and to what crops they
are adapted and how they may be i'm
proved. 1t has been so done that we
now have a fair knowledge Of the soils
east Of the great plains, although
practical working maps and plans have
to be made for each county, and this
work will go on for decades to come.
An army of experts Is now at work
in the dry-plains region, mapping the
country from North Dakota to Texas
other experts are testing the places In
the Rocky Mountain basin where the
plants are being created
and considerable surveying has beer
done in California and in other parts
of the Pacific slope, as well as In the
Gulf states and the Mississippi valley
The work has been such that we have
now a general outline of our soil terri
tories as we'll as accurate knowledge
of about 5 per cent Of the whole. The
total land of the United States proper
aggregates about 1900 million acres
and as l have said, Of more than 1OO,-
OOO, 900 acres we have already COM