The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-10-01

The work has been such that we have
now . general outline OF our soil ter
/ Fltories as we'll as accurate knowledge
or about . per cent. OF the whole. The
total land Of the United States proper
| aggregates about 1900 million acres,
/ and. az have said, OF more than 1907
cVO'OeO acres VIC have already CONFLICT
. ca surveys. The work began about
eleven years ago. II IS carried on by
: one OF the chief bureaus of the Agri-
:cultu!al Department, whose scientific
, laboratories ana other arrangements
arc among the finest OF the govern
fncn' IN addition, To the actual ex-
harstive surveys, prospecting surveys.
| cone IN California end IN other parts
have been carried on in other sections
ana there are on hle requests cor 500
and more additional surveys. covering
about one-afth OF our country. "
What Soil Is.
1T makes ones head buzz when he
/ thinks OF these big scientific features
| OF Uncle Sans work. They are hard
TO describe In popular language. and
! Inc sc!entists use terms which would
frighten the reader. 1 have been talk
/ ipg with many Of the soil experts. and
among others with Dr.. Milton whitney.
| who has been ~ tho head of the bureau
/ since Its beginning. and who knows
4
other man IN the country
| In tie first place. what is soil?
1t is the thin skin which incloses
the body OF old Mother Earth, formed
| OF the dust OF the old lady's scourings.
We oil know that it is disintesrated
rock. but the experts say that the rock
aione is not soil. and thnt it must
nave humus or some vegetable or or
ganic matter mixed with IL to make
the crops grow. 1t must have water
and air and also the myriads of tho
| little devils OF q vegetable sort known
as bacteria.
| All rock Ia mineral, and the soil Is
mace mp OF minerals washed from the
| rocks by the rains and loosened by
oeher agencies so that it may furnish
the root food for the plants. In order
; that Il may do :his it must consist OF
| particles which infinitesimally
small. Many grains of the soil are so
little that you cannot see them except
when some millions are collected to-
sether. Take the Norfolk sand, which
runs along the eastern coast of the
| United States. from Florida to Long
Island That is good vegeta Bile ground
but great part of 1T is so nne that
a child'9 thimble Will hold more of
| It's particles than there are men, wo-
| men and children in this whole world
1t measures about two billions to the
gram, and that many can be inclosed
in cylinder one-fourth of an inch
in diameter and half an inch long
There are other soils which have
even more particles than this, and il
10 said that the best wheat lands and
grass lands are SO fine that from tel
! to fourteen billion separate particles
or grains may be crowded into n thin
BILE.
These particles are usually roundish
in shape. They are separated by air
spaces, and a single cubic foot Of soil
Is said to expose to the roots or the
plants an area of surface equal to
three acres. That is. each particle can
be reached on all sides, and the aggre.
gate surface of these billions Of par
ticies equals three acres. 1t is accord
| Ing to the division of the PARTICLES and
the character of their contents. as we'll
as according 20 the way they have
been laid down, that we know what
our soils are.
How the United States Wns Made.
\ DR.. Whitney could tell you Just about
| how the United States was made. He
knows where the soils came from and
| how They were laid down upon the
rocky surface of the globe. ! have be-
| fore me map made by his bureau
which shows our great soil provinces
IIt is In many. colors each of which
desoribes the land of its location. In
The first place there arc the soils which
lhave been washed down from the noun
ltains. This is disintegrated rock. which
has rolled over and over. in these