In the United States as well, the ancient prejudices have now gradually given way before the urgent call for more definite information than could otherwise possibly be given to farmers by the experiment stations, most of whose cultural experiments, made without any definite knowledge of the nature of the soil under trial, were found to be of little value outside of their own experimental fields. Even the multiplication of culture stations in several states, unaccompanied by soil research, is found to be a delusive repetition of the same inconclusive, random experimenting, since it takes into consideration only the climatic differences, but leaves out of consideration the potent factors of soil quality and soil variations. At most these were usually mentioned by them in such indefinite terms as “a clay loam,” “a coarse sandy soil,” “gray sediment land,” and the like; frequently not even with a statement of the depth and character of the subsoil and substrata, much less of their geological derivation or correlations. Thus any one not happening to be personally acquainted with the land in question would be wholly without definite data to correlate the results with his own case. It is quite obvious that even if only to make possible the identification of new lands with others that have already fallen under cultural experience, and can therefore afford useful indications to the new settler, a close physical and chemical characterization of lands should be made the special object of study by the experiment stations and public surveys, particularly in the newer states. _Advantages for Soil Study offered by Virgin Lands._—Among the special advantages, then, offered by virgin soils for the study of the correlations of soils and crops, the usual existence of a native flora, representing the results of secular adaptation, is of fundamental importance. As it is at this time still historically known of most lands west of the Alleghenies what was their original timber growth, it is clear that their original condition can still be ascertained by comparison with uncultivated lands of similar growth, usually not very far away; and as their cultural history also is largely within the memory of the living generation, the behavior of such lands under cultivation is known or verifiable. Foremost among the data thus ascertainable is the _duration of satisfactory crop production, and its average amount_. To ascertain these surviving data by inquiry among the farming population should be among the foremost duties of those connected with soil surveys; and persons temperamentally unable to enlist the farmer’s sympathy and interest in such inquiries must be considered seriously handicapped, no matter what their scientific qualifications may be. In no quest is it more literally true that there is no one from whom the earnest inquirer may not learn something worth knowing.