Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-01-18
SOIL SURVEYORS
WILL COME HERE
Book Island County to Be Scene
of State Tests During
Next Summer.
GREAT VALUE TO FARMERS
Force Under j. G. Mosier of Univer-
sity to Remain on Ground
Several Months.

Especial Correspondence of The Argus.)
Champaign, Ill, Jan. 16.-Rock Is
land county is to be the scene of oper-
atoms of the Illinois soil survey dur
ing the coming summer. Professor ].
G. Mosier of the soil physics depart
ment of the college Of agriculture to-
day said that the work now in prog
ress in Whiteside county will be COM
pleted within a few weeks after the
frost is out of the ground and that
Rock Island county will be taken I'D
next. The results of this survey will
be of immense value to the agricultur-
al interests of the county when they
have been put in form and published
so that the public may have access
to them
The surveying of soils of the state
comes under Professor Mosier's de-
partment S. V Holt will have person
al charge in Rock Island county and
he will have three men under his
direction. His force is expected to
reach Rock Island county early in
May and TO be employed there continu-
ously till early in the fall
Following the plan adopted for this
work every 1O-acre tract in the county
viii be visited and inspected so that
its soil may be classified. Samples
of the various classifications will then
| be taken and a chemical analysis
made to determine acidity. amount
&C organic matter and the quantity of
the various elements that are neces-
sary TO plant growth which are pres
ent The data will be compiled and
a map of the county made to show
just what the investigators have found
With this map in hand any farmer in
/ the county can ascertain approximate
/ ly what is needed to restore the fer
tility not only of his farm as a whole,
but of every part of it, where there
are different varieties of soil Ad-
vice as TO the proper and most eco
( nomical method of supplying that
which is lacking will be furnished by
( the college authorities or may be OBJ
/ tanned from bulletins that have been
! issued after exhaustive experiments
/ in the upbuilding of soil fertility.
ONLY EXPERTS EMPLOYED.
! Only experts in soil investigation
are employed to make the survey-men
who have had training in the school
/ for which they are working. Ordinar-
: i1,- in, faLinor
side of a section or half section line
and the other the other side
| Each man carries a soil augur with
which at stated distances, he bores
/ into the ground and ascertains its
physical character. Whenever a new
variety is found a sample Of ii is TAX
en-. II the type is similar TO that from
which a sample has already been TAX
en- a record is made of the fact. In
this way the soil investigators move
back and forth till the entire county
has been covered. More than usual
interest attaches to the result of the
investigation in Rock Island county
because there is a greater variety in
the type of soils there than is ordinar-
lily found In a similar area. For this
reason also. the work probably will
take longer than in the case of other
counties OF equal extent
Forty-two per cent of the area OF
Illinois has now been covered by the
soil survey. which was begun several
years ago. In the start the state
school co-operated with the United
States department OF agriculture, but
the federal authorities were -unwilI
ing TO go into the work with the degree
o. thoroughness that the state schoo
desired and so the latter broke away
and is now making the investigation
separately.
After the survey in Rock Island
county has been completed it will be