This unit will look at two systems of classifying land: 1) Legal Land Description and 2) Land Capability Classification.
Every tract of land purchased by anyone must have a legal description to designate where it is located. The legal description appears on the deed to the land. The two major systems of legal description used in the United States are: (1) metes and bounds and (2) rectangular survey or public land survey system (PLSS).
The metes and bounds system was used in the areas that were settled while the U.S.A. was still a colony of England, Spain or France. These areas are mainly in the East, or in Spanish land grants in the southwestern United States.
These descriptions start at some point on the boundary of a tract (usually a corner) and describe the direction and distance to the next corner. After this a new direction and distance are given to another corner, and this continues all the way around the tract, back to the point of beginning. Prominent rocks, trees, roads, etc., serve as corners or boundaries. Irregularly shaped tracts and loss of markers as time passes may cause many boundary disputes under this system.
This is an example of a metes and bounds description made "this thirteenth day of February one thousand eighteen hundred and ten in Kentucky: Beginning at the mouth of a branch at an ash stump thence up the creek south 20 poles to 2 beach, thence east 41 poles to a small walnut in Arnett's line, thence north 50 east 80 poles to a linn hickory dogwood in said line, thence north 38 poles to an ash, thence west 296 poles with Potts's line till it intersects with Tolly's line, thence south 30 west 80 poles to a whiteoak and sugar, thence east 223 poles to beginning" from metes&bounds
In 1875, the US adopted the rectangular survey system (PLSS), which is used in 30 of the 50 states. This system is based on meridians (north-south lines parallel to lines of longitude) and baselines (east-west lines). There are 34 "principal meridians" in the United States; each has a baseline associated with it. For an interesting site on PLSS go to Principal Meridan Project
Land descriptions in Minnesota are related to the 4th principal meridian for areas east of the Mississippi River. This meridian intersects its baseline at a point near Dubuque, Iowa. See this Map of Wisconsin for the location of the 4th PM. 4th PM in WisconsinAreas west of the river use the 5th principal meridian, which intersects its baseline in east central Arkansas.
See the Principal Meridian Map for a look at how Minnesota is divided for legal land description.
Tracts of land, called townships, are laid out beginning from the point
where the meridian crosses its baseline. Townships are as close to six miles
square as possible, but are about 50 feet shorter on the north side than on the
south side because of the curvature of the earth. 
The legal description for a township gives a count of the number of townships (or tiers) north or south of the baseline to the one that includes the area being described. Thus, any area between one and six miles north of the baseline is town one north (T1N) and if a town is between 24 and 30 miles north of the baseline it would be in T5N (township five north).
The distance east or west of the meridian is similarly described in terms of ranges. An area 7 miles east of the meridian would be in R2E (range two east, from 7 to 12 miles east of the meridian).
If you are unfamiliar with how this might look, go to Legal Land Description to get an idea of how townships are counted.
The distortion caused by the curvature of the earth requires certain adjustments to be made. Correction lines are laid out at 24 mile intervals (4 townships) from the baseline.
Townships are measured six miles wide along each correction line but become narrower to the north until the next correction line is reached. Similarly, guide meridians are laid out every 24 miles east or west of the principal meridian. The guide meridians are broken at the correction lines. Townships are subdivided into 36 sections that are each one mile square, except that the size of the sections along the north and west sides of a township are adjusted in size where necessary to compensate for the earth's curvature.
The sections are numbered from 1 to 36, beginning in the northeast corner. Each one mile square section contains 640 acres. Areas smaller than 640 acres are described as portions of sections. These portions are normally described in terms of quarters or halves. The description written using this system is always from smallest to largest (for example: the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 10, T5N, R2E). Most section corners were marked by stones with grooves scratched in two sides. The number of grooves designated the number of miles to the north and east township boundaries. More recent surveys used pipes capped with brass markers in place of the stones.
Your lab will have additional exercises to practice using Legal Land
Description.
Land capability classification as used by the NRCS shows, in a general way, the suitability of soils for use as cropland. Crops that require special management are excluded. The soils are grouped according to their limitations for field crops, the risk of damage if they are used for crops, and the way they respond to management.
The criteria used in grouping the soils do not assume major and generally expensive landforming that would change slope, depth, or other characteristics of the soils, nor do they include possible but unlikely major reclamation projects.
Capability classification is not a substitute for interpretations designed to show suitability and limitations of groups of soils for rangeland, for woodland, and for engineering purposes. See TAS Land & Forest (TLF) for how LCC is being used in planning.
In the capability system, soils are generally grouped into:
1) capability class
2) subclass
Capability classes, the broadest groups,
are designated by Roman numerals I through VIII. The increasing numerals ( I -
IV and VI -VIII ) indicate progressively greater limitations and narrower
choices for practical use. Class V is a special case as described below. The
classes are defined as follows:
Class I soils have few limitations that restrict their use.
Class II soils have moderate limitations that reduce the choice of
plants or that require moderate conservation practices.
Class III soils have severe limitations that reduce the choice of plants
or that require special conservation practices, or both.
Class IV soils have very severe limitations that reduce the choice of
plants or that require very careful management, or both.
Class V category not related to slope, soils are not likely to erode,
but they have other limitations, impractical to remove, that limit their use.
These limitations could be flooding, stones, large boulders or shallow soils
with bedrock close to the surface.
Class VI soils have severe limitations that make them generally
unsuitable for cultivation.
Class VII soils have very severe limitations that make them unsuitable
for cultivation and only can be used for range or forestry.
Class VIII soils and miscellaneous areas have limitations that nearly
preclude their use for any production and are often just used for recreation.
Capability subclasses are soil groups within one class. They are designated by adding a small letter, e, w, s, or c, to the class numeral; for example, IIe.
The letter e shows that the main hazard is the risk of erosion unless a close-growing plant cover is maintained; w shows that water in or on the soil interferes with plant growth or cultivation (in some soils the wetness can be partly corrected by artificial drainage); s shows that the soil is limited mainly because it is shallow, droughty, or stony; and c, used in only some parts of the United States, shows that the chief limitation is climate that is very cold or very dry.
There are no subclasses in class I because the soils of this class have few limitations. The soils in class V are subject to little or no erosion, but they have other limitations that restrict their use to pasture, rangeland, woodland, wildlife habitat, or recreation.
Class V contains only the subclasses indicated by w, s, or c. The capability classification of each map unit is given in the section "Detailed Soil Map Units" of the Soil Survey Report.
To view landscapes and soil of the various classes, indicate the appropriate Land Capability Class below.
Class I, Class II,Class III,Class IV,Class V,Class VI,Class VII, & VIII
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