The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-10-01
DIR. MILTON WHITNEY,
United States Government Soil Sur
yeyOr.


veyor.
| this dust that we get the wheat, corn
and meat which form our chief food
supply.
Made by the Glaciers.
The greatest part Of this wind blown
dust lies on a bed of rock which was
ground UP and brought down by tho
glaciers during the great ice ages of
the past There are places where the
dust is not thick and where this glacial
soil lies close to the surface. This
also forms some of the best wheat
and fruit lands. The Red River Valley
is part of 1t, and you may find mora
about Lakes Erie and Ontario. rum
ming UP into New York. taking in
Buffalo, OswegU and going on clear to
the Canadian boundary. That land is
excellent for fruits. and 1t is one of
! our best regions for the production
. OF apples and grapes
/ In addition to these soils we have
those which form the banks of the riv-
I ers and tho iowlands adjoining. They
are scattered along the Missouri and
Mississippi and the tributaries which
{ flow into them. They come from the
highlands nearby and are young soils,
being usually more productive than the
territory from which they have come.
i OF these about 100000 acres have
Z been surveyed.
1 And thea there are other special
patches. known as the limestone val
/ leys and uplands. of which we have
tested between seven and eight million
acres. Some OF these are found un-
J der the blue grass of Kentucky where
| they produce excellent horses and
nessee and also cover a great part of
Missouri. running south OF that State
into Arkansas. There Is another class
of soils in the Rocky Mountain basin,
and some of all these soils are found
! on the Pacific slope.
| The bureau of Soils.
| l wish l could take you through tile
Bureau of Soils and show you the peo-
pie at work testing the earth which
has been sent in from the fields. There
are great laboratories which have bot
ties containing soils OF every descrip-
ton and representing every part of the
country. There are upward OF 500 dir
| ferent soils in these bottles and the
reports will tell just what the property
of each is and what crops it will raise.
You may learn the character of the
earth. Some of it is coarse, gritty
sand. Other soils are made of fine
sandy loans. There are other divisions
such as silt, clay loans and clay, so
that one can know the texture Of the
land and for what 1t is fitted. A de-
scription OF tho varieties and their
! characteristics is too long for this
/ paper.
! Soil 1Inps.
| When this soil survey is completed
every farmer in the United States can
/ write to the government and learn
all about the land he is working. He
! will be sent a map OF his county which
In some cases is as big as q table
| cloth and SO pictured In colors that he
can tell in just what township each
kind OF land is and can almost nick
out his own farm.
| In such surveys the work is exhaus-
lively done. The experts, who are col
lege-bred men, and who know all about
the earth and its products, bore down
into the GROUND to depth of three
feet and take up specimens of the soil
/ and anlyze them. In some cases they
have an electrical apparatus which tells
the presence of salts in the soil, and
they U.s. every means OF getting ac-
curate. up-t date information.
The maps show the lay of the land
the streams. the roads and the chief
market towns. They show you the
cati"nal facilities and character OF
! the people. They describe the towns
and the transportat ton facilities steam
and electric and also the waterways
/ They will tell you whether the roads
are good or bad and whether they
/ are ION ROADS or Tree roads. They give
the climate and the temperature from
month to month throughout the year.
They take up each crop that is raised
! and tell how 1t should be handled to
make II grow better. They describe
F; the stock-raising possibilities, give the
rates OF farm wages, and everything.
In short that the man who wishes to
settle in such country should know.
How the Surveys Are Used.
| This information is of great value to
investors. for by it they can tell the
possibility of the farmers paying their
loans or the credit which should be
given to the county or to the town
ships or the municipalities within it,
They are of advantage to the railroads
who can use the information for the
placing Of immigrants. and to settlers
and land buyers of every description
understand that the railroads are
already using them very extensively
and are making the Investigations OF
the bureau the basis for the building
up of their traffic and of settling their
lands.
Indeed, feel unable to express the
great value OF the work which the
Bureau of Soils Is doing for the coun-
try. 1t not only tells us what our lands
are. but how each kind should be
treated that fertility may be increased
Among the work of it's laboratories are
recent discoveries in the renovation of
soils. DIR. Whitney does not think thai
lands can wear out, and believes that
good handling can restore the original
forces of almost any soil upon earth.
He says that lands in the Orient which
have been farmed for twenty centuries
are still producing good crops, and
that the soil which was titled when
h William the Conaueror came into Eng