Preface

ALFRED STEFFERUD

Editor

THIS BOOK is, as a plant scientist might say, a new and adapted variety of Soils and Men, the 1938 Yearbook of Agriculture. The parent, a giant of 1,232 pages and 258,042 copies, is now out of print. That may be a manifest of its popularity and value. Surely it did help make Americans aware of the acute need to take care of their heritage. It warned : "The social lesson of soil waste is that no man has the right to destroy soil even if he does own it in fee simple. The soil requires a duty of man which we have been slow to recognize."

A PURPOSE of the present book is to indicate the extent to which that warning has been heeded—and at times to repeat it—and to describe the knowledge about soils that scientists and farmers have since gained.

THE 1938 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE devoted considerable space to the classifications of soils, technical aspects of soil science, and the use of land (which we take to be different from the use of soil).

BECAUSE OUR KNOWLEDGE of soil has expanded greatly since 1938 and emphasis and needs have changed, this Yearbook of Agriculture is limited to the management of soil, itself a big and burgeoning subject. We plan to devote a subsequent Yearbook to the use and ownership of land. The material here about soil classification, the soils of the United States, and basic soil science is sufficient, we think, for the non-technician to understand the principles of soil management that are set forth in this volume.

WE HAVE TRIED to help a farmer appraise his own requirements and help him decide which of the many available practices, machines, and materials are best for his situation. We have explained the continually in- creasing opportunities for more efficient soil management on a permanent basis—how the same soils can be farmed more efficiently than our fathers and grandfathers could farm them and how also more kinds of soil can be farmed efficiently. WE EMPHASIZE that for best results all parts of the soil-management system for a field must fit together—that systems of crop and timber management must be geared to the characteristics and requirements of both soil and plants.

A GLANCE at the table of contents will tell you more about the scope and organization: The place of soil management within the broad field of agriculture; how new scientific principles are developed; what we have learned about soils and the basic principles of their behavior; methods for achieving specific objectives, such as liming, cultivating, controlling moisture, increasing organic matter and storage of water, and preventing erosion; how systems of soil management support one another, and the requirements and methods of developing farm plans and systems of soil management for high production with conservation; soil-management systems for forest trees, gardens, and a few special crops that have requirements somewhat unlike those of the general run of field crops; and the opportunities for improved systems of soil management in the different regions of the United States.

THE MATERIAL AND SCOPE were planned by a Yearbook Committee, whose members are:

Charles E. Kellogg, Soil Conservation Service, Chairman

W. H. Allaway, Agricultural Research Service

Carleton P. Barnes, Agricultural Research Service

N. C. Brady, Cornell University

V. L. Harper, Forest Service

Carl P. Heisig, Agricultural Research Service

W. H. Pierre, Iowa State College

Harold E. Pinches, Agricultural Research Service

K. S. Quisenberry, Agricultural Research Service

F. G. Ritchie, Agricultural Conservation Program

Alfred Stefferud, Office of Information

Wynne Thorne, Utah State University

C. H. Wadleigh, Agricultural Research Service

Eric Winters, University of Tennessee

TWO OF THEM, Dr. Kellogg and Dr. Barnes, were members of the 1938 Yearbook Committee. Their devotion and wisdom in agricultural research and their distinguished work in the Department of Agriculture are reflected in their continuing concern that the results of the research and achievements of scientists be made public for the benefit of all.