A SOIL SURVEY.

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 48, 24 February 1917, Page 10

A SOIL SURVEY.

Regarding information made available to intending settlers, it may be of interest (says a, writer in an Australian paper) to' some to know what the United btates have been, and are now, doing with regard to the closer scttlcment-of their rural lands. Take,-for instance, the matter of soils. Towards the end of the last century it was ..clearly shown by the late Professor Hilgard, Professor Whitney, antf otfter famous agricultural experts that the system of soil analysis then in vogue, which was moro or loss similar to that now in use by us, did not .meet the requirements of progressive settlement, ihey argued that the indiscriminate chemical analyses of soils indicated the actual needs of a soil only in exceptional cases, and strongly recommended the relatively less expensivo but far more-com-prehensive soil surveys which have become so popular. To commence with, they mapped large areas in important agricultural districts, defining on the maps the location and extent of each'type of soil met with and giving full particulars of both soils and subsoils in the accompanying reports. To a full description of the physical conditions of the land was added ample information' respecting the crops grown on tho various soils, and the local methods of agriculture generally. A brief history of the development of settlement .was also given, -together with any information likely to bo of benefit to the resident farmer as well as the incoming settler. Those surveys were quickly followed ,by others, at the instance of tho public, and so great have been the benclits conferred upon the districts so dealt with that every effort is now being made to complete tho soil survey of the wholo country, *. totiu aea, ot nearly 3,000,000 square miles. Assuming a similar. soil survey of Australia, how readily could the State or private agencies advise the public,, respecting the true character of the soils of any district. It would obviate to a. great extent' the expense and inconvenience of the ra..:bling personal inspection that is all too frequently tho lot of would-be settlers, or their agents, under_ tho- present unfledged system of intelligence. It would also form an absolute, basis on which to estimato tho true relative values of rural lands as regards their productive capabilities, which is the fundamoutal principle, underlying all true settlement. • .