The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-01

A SIu0y or $ut Cu3I#S8 tAto tNe.sRt-. tion of apples under its methods of cold storage has been continued in collabora- ton with the Pomoiogist. A study oi olive oil and it's aduiterations has been completed. About 1,500 analyses were made in the insecticide and agricultural water laboratory. These included toxico- logical examinations to determine wheth- CT bees were killed by poisons used In spraying. In the laboratory work on su- gar done for the Treasury Department the number of analyses reported was LIZA. In the Bureau Laboratory over 1000 anal yses were made, So7 of which were report ed to the Dairy Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry. The dificulty of dis tinguishing between butter produced by feeding cotton seed or cotton-seed meal and that to which foreign fats have been added will be the occasion of special study during the coming year.
 Road Material Investigations.
 The work of the Chemist in charge of the Road Material Laboratory has ir- ciuded investigation of the cementing power of rock dust, graveis and clays; also experiments on the binding and clink- ering of clays with view to their use as road material. There are vast areas throughout our country where this Is the only road material available, and the de- termination of the quality of clay adapted to this purpose will solve an important problem. He has also studied the effect of mixtures of crude petroleum and as- phaltum New tests for determining the hardness and toughness of rock have been made possible by the adoption of machines designed and now in operation in the laboratory.
 Distribution of Soil Surveys.
 The distribution of soil surveys has heretofore been influenced by a desire to gain the widest possible knowledge of the soils used in our most important agricul- tural industries; hence the surveys have been widely scattered. covering fruit dis- tricts, sugar-beet lands cotton and rice lands, corn and wheat lands. and tobacco districts. An important purpose of the work is to provide data for the compara- tive study of widely separated areas de- voted to the cultivation of similar pro- ducts with a view to carrying the better practices of one area to another, and or suggesting improvements in the kind of crops grown
 Soil Area Surveyed.
 The area surveyed and mapped during the present year exceeded 23,000 square miles, or nearly fifteen million acres-as much as the total area previously sur. veyed since the work was begun. Parties are now kept in the field all the year. moving into southern areas in winter. The work of the year covered sixty-three areas in thirty-four States and Territo- ries, the total soil survey to date cover- ing nearly thirty million acres. The cost of the survey for the year amounted to $6s. .s1351, of which s1,74S35 was paid by State organizations. The Secretary res ports A great demand for men experienced in this work from colleges and expert- ment stations and in private enterprises. Notwithsta nding the vast amount of work done, the Department was unable to reach more than half of the areas for which surveys have been requested. and there are now on file in the Bureau of Soils requests for nearly two years work with the number of parties available un- der present appropriations.
 Cuban Cigar Leaf Tobacco in the South.
 In Ohio the quantity of tobacco handled in accordance with the methods pre- scribed by the Bureau of Soils has in- creased from 655. 900 pounds of the 1901 crop to over 4,O00, 900 pounds of the crop of 1902. Important work has been done in the experimental growing of Cuban cigar leaf tobacco on the Orangeburg sandy loams and the Orangeburg loam in South Carolina. Alabama and Texas. These soils appear very similar to the tobacco soils of Cuba, and the aroma of the leaf grown on one of them in Texas has been pronounced very fine by the trade.
 Important Discoveries.
 Extremely important work is reported from the Soils Laboratories. resulting in some very valuable discoveries, from which the chief of the Bureau of Soils argues that nearly all soils are amply supplied with the necessary mineral plant food; that their supply as regards the plant is determined by the supply of soil moisture the crop can obtain from the soil; that the chemical analysis of a soil cannot. therefore, in itself throw much light upon the problem of fertility, but in attempting to control the factors governing crop yield, attention must be specially directed to the chemical oondi- ton of the soil as affecting the supply of soil moisture with its dissolved min- eral nutrients, to the effects of climate, to rotation, and to general soil manage ment.
 Trade in Farm Products in This and Other Countries.
 The Division of Foreign Markets has been engaged in comprehensive investiga- tions bringing together vast amounts of information concerning the trade in this and other countries in farm products. The publication of a series of bulletins has been undertaken giving the import duties on important groups of agricul- tural products levied in foreign coun- tries. The reports of this division show that farm products constitute very large percentage of the imports of Ger many. These exceeded. fiji 1901, s790, ,OO0. .000 of which the United States supplied over 20 per cent. review of the trade in our products shows that 1t has grown to large proportions. In 1893 our domestic exports of forest products exceeded $2e,- 900, 600. Of forest imports the principal portion is of materials that do not grow in this country. A combination of the do- mestic exports of forestry products with those of farm products gives total con sisting of 67.3 per cent. of all domestic exports for 1903.
 Beneficial Insects.
 The distribution of colonies of the lady bird enemy of the San Jose scale has been continued during the year, mainly in charge of the entomologists of the State Experiment Stations. During the early summer of 1908, twenty-six colonies were distributed in twelve different States. Of last years distributions, those sent to Georgia have given the best promise. The hg-fertiIizing insect continues to be a great success in California. It has been | thoroughly acclimatized at Fresno and
 Niles Good work has been done by the parasitic enemy of the black scale, origi- nally imported by the Division of Ento- mology from Italy and later from South Africa. In the colonized district over 90 per cent. of the black scale has been destroyed by the parasite.
 The Cotton Boil Weevil. The work of the Division of Entomol- ogy combating the cotton boll-weevil was continued with energy. the increased | N.N.m ah.n