I know how busy a man you must be, but I am thinking of buying a
farm, or some land, here in the East and have come to you for
information. We have a small farm in Illinois and land is rather too
high-priced there to think of buying more; but I thought I could
sell at a good price, and buy a much larger farm here in the East
with part of the money and still have enough left to build it up
with; and, with the high price of all kinds of farm produce here, we
ought to make it pay."

"You can do it," said the Secretary. "No doubt of it. Any land that
ever was any good is all right yet if you'll grow clover, and you
can start that with a little manure if you need it. I have done it
in Iowa, and I know what I am talking about.

"Now my Bureau of Soils can give you just the information you want.
We are making a soil survey of the United States, and we have soil
maps of several counties right here in Maryland. You can take that
map and pick out any kind of land you want,--upland or bottom
land,--sandy soil, clay soil, loam, silt loam, or anything you
want."






CHAPTER XXI

IN THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF