El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-01

Tennessee and also cover a great part
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.
wish I could take you through the
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 descrlp-
tiOn ana representing every part OF
the country. There are upward Of SOC
different soils in these bottles and the
reports VIII tell just what the prop
erty OF each is and what crops it viii
raise. You may learn the character OF
the earth. Some Of 1T is coarse, gritty
sand. Other soils are made Of fine
sands and others OF sandy loans ana
fine sandy loans. There are other di-
visions such as silt clay loans and
clay, so that one can know the tex
ture of the land and for what * Is
and their characteristics is too long
for this paper.
Soil Maps.
When this soil survey IS compIeCeo
every farmer in the United states can
write to the government and learn ~
about the land he is working de VII
be sent map Of his county which IN
some cases is as big as taDlecloIh ana
so pictured in colors that he can tell
IN just what township each kind OF
land is and can almost pick out his
own farm.
In such surveys the work is exhaus-
lively done The experts, VINO are col
lege bred men and who know all ABOUT
the earth and it's products pore Gown
into the ground to a depth Of three
feet and take up specimens Of the SOL
and analyZe them. In some cases Lneg
have an electrical apparatus Wnlcn
tells the presence Of salts IN the SOIL
and they use every means OF geItln5
accurate uptOdate Information.
The maps show the lay Of the land,
the streams, the roads and the CHIEF
market towns. They show you the e0u-
cational facilities and character OF the
people They describe the towns and
the transportation facilities. steam and
electric and also the waterways. They
will tell you whether the roads Iar6
good or bad and whether they are toll
roads or free roads. They give me
climate and the temperature from
month to month throughout the year.
They take up each crop that is raised
and tell how IL should be handled to
make 1t grow better. They describe
the stock raising possibilities, give
the rates Of farm wages, and every
thing in short, that the man who
wishes TO settle in such a country
should know.
How the Surveys Are Used.
This information is Of great value 10
investors, for by IL they can tell the
possibility Of the farmers paying their
loans or the credit which should be
given to the county OF 10 the town
ship or the municipalities within f.
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
I understand that the railroads are al
ready using them very extensively and
are making the Investigations Of the
bureau the basis for the building up Of
their traffic and Of setting their lands
Indeed, I feel unable to express the
great value OF the work which the bu-
reau Of soils IS doing for the country.
1t not only tells us what our lands are,
but how each kind should be increased. !
recent qlscoEerles In the renovation OF
soils. Or. Whitney does not think that
lands can wear out and he believes
that good handling can restore the Ori-
ginal forces Of almost any soil upon
earth He says that lands in the
orient which have been farmed for 20
centuries are still producing good
crops, and that the soil which was
titled when William the conqueror
came into England still keeps Up the
average wheat yield of that country 10
about 50 bushels to the acre.
One Of the most interesting Of the
present vestigations that being made [
by DR. Schrelaner and others as TO {
the deleteri0us matter which Is found |
In some soils This may be poison [
ous TO the plants and may retard their /
growth, although the soil may have I
abundant plant food and all the other I
conditions which should produce the 1
richest Of crops.
In going through the laboratories I /
was shown plants which were being I
tested In one glass a plant WoVld be I
growing in the original soil aud IN l
another &c would be standing in the I
same earth with fertilizers added. In 4
both these cases the plants would look /
sickly and have but a small root de- /
velOpment. in the third glass the same I
soil with an antldote to correct what I
the scientists believe to be a poisonous &
element of the soil, and in this last
,ase the plant was luXuriant with great q
roots. showing that IL was the poison I
and not the lack Of plant food that /
Kept ii from growing. This DR.. Schrei- I
ler tells me. SIS the case with a I
great many Of the farms Of our country.
They need medicine to take the bad
stuff out Of their system, just as you
and I need liver pills in the spring
IN some Of these cases lime makes a
good antidOte or corrective, and for
others different medicines are re-
Iuired.
Frank G.. Carpenter.