Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-12-13
Terms Strictly in Advance.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1912.
LETTER FROM C. A. LYFORD.

In the Legislature last week there
was passed bill providing for coopera-
ton with the U. S. Geological Survey
in the further topographic survey of the
State. This is an admirable bill, and
such one should have been passed
several times before this. The State of
Vermont has been losing many advan-
tages that would follow more COM
plete mapping of its territory. The
reason for this is the inertia and mis-
understanding of its citizens. The
farmer does not quickly see the advan-
tage in the topographic survey. The
fact is, that many advantages accrue.
owing to general betterment of con-
ditions in the State at large. Let me
enumerate only few of the various
ways in which this money appropriated
for further mapping will reap bene-
fetal results. Valuable information
concerning the nature of the lands in
remote regions will be furnished the
State Forester. He can tell approx
mately at a glance the localities prob
ably best fitted for certain kinds of
forestry work, and the best localities
for trails and lookout stations for patrol
work. The proper maintenance of a
forest fire patrol at an annual expense
of few thousand dollars saves the
State hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The State maintains a State Geologist
one of whose duties is the investigation
of the mineral resources of the lands;
yet he has no reliable detail maps of
most of the state upon which to record
his observations, and has to rely either
upon crude county or town charts or
his own sketch maps The people who
come into a new region to look for
suitable sites for homes, farms and
business plants almost invariably travel
about with copies of the topographic
sheets in hand. Attitudes, hills, val
legs, lakes, slope of the land, and
other information concerning every
corner of the charted country can be
read at a glance, yet two-thirds or
more of Vermont investigators can look
for no such information until the State
is surveyed.
The Department of Agriculture,
through its Bureau of Soils, is rendering
service supposedly worth millions OF
dollars to the farmers of such states as
Alabama, California, Illinois and Others
through the information it gives con.
corning the general treatment and CROP
adaptations of the soils of those
regions. 1t has done so concerning
about 225 square miles of western
Vermont, but it will do no more unit
the Legislature of the State decides il
is worth while to cooperate with the
Department of Agriculture. The Blu
reau of Soils has so far, at least ir
most cases, used the topographic sheet:
of the Geological Survey for the basi:
of its soil maps. The portion of Yer
mont already mapped by the Geological
Survey happens to embrace most of the
soil types of the Vergennes series which
are largely more or less heavy clay
soils, but little of any region with
radically different soils. 1t is to bt
hoped that the Geological Survey car
be prevailed upon to map more lane
across the ranges to the east for her,
new soil types are encountered, and il
the soil survey could then be pushed
forward greater number of the State''
farmers would be benefited. If thu
State does not follow up the work of the
Geological Survey with the work of the
Soil Survey it will lose a good share O
the value of the topographic mapping
Before this can be accomplished, con
siderable more educational work may b,
necessary. especially in the rural dis
tricts whose representatives may no
understand the import of such matters
Here is work for the different organiza
tons interested from various stand
points in preserving and lettering tn,
resources of the State. Vermont shoult
get her share of the federal funds TO
such work.
c. A. LYFoRD,
Middlebury College.