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to the rolls of the Grain Corporation, only the leaders remaining upon the roster of the Bureau of Chemistry.. Active inspection was carried on in mills and elevators in which the Grain Corporation had wheat or stocks of flour in storage to secure the removal of hazardous conditions and the installation of devices which have been developed for the prevention of fires and explosions. Special literature, consisting of circulars, posters, and folders, was prepared and circulated among the owners and employees of the mills and elevators throughout the country.

On September 13 a disastrous explosion occurred in a Kansas City grain elevator, with a loss of 14 lives. The loss to the Grain Corporation was about $25,000, which represented almost the total losses from such causes during the entire period of its existence. It never had stocks of a value less than $100,000,000 on hand, and they often amounted to $500,000,000. With the passing out of existence of the Grain Corporation toward the end of the year, the force was disbanded and the work discontinued.

Owing to lack of funds, little work could be done to prevent thrasher explosions and fires. Except for field demonstration, this project is closed, but such work is urgently needed. For lack of it a large number of explosions and fires occurred in the Walla Walla territory in southwestern Washington, causing extensive damage to grain and machines. Department Circular 98, The Installation of Dust-Collecting Fans on Thrashing Machines, has been issued.

For lack of funds the work upon the study of fires in cotton gins was limited to correspondence and conferences with manufacturers of machinery, fire marshals, underwriters, and other interested parties. In cooperation with the National Lamp Works, the Westinghouse and the Edison companies, it was demonstrated that dust explosions can be caused by the breaking of any type of incandescent-lamp bulb. Work was done at Cleveland, at the Edison plant at Harrison, at the Westinghouse plant at Bloomfield, and at the Pennsylvania State College. The object of the engineers of the lamp companies is to develop equipment that will remove some of the dangers and make it possible to establish safe practice.

PAPER, CONTAINERS, AND FABRICS.

As reported in 1917, the investigations on blue-print paper have been of service in establishing more solidly the manufacture of such paper in this country, and it is now possible for the Government, and engineers generally, to procure in this country all the blue-print paper needed, of a quality superior to that formerly obtained from abroad. During the year, at the request of the Navy Department, the specifications for blue- and brown-print paper were revised, after which they were adopted by the Navy Department. In a similar manner the bureau was called upon by the War Department, Treasury Department, Shipping Board, and the General Supply Committee. An effort has been made toward the adoption throughout the Government service of uniform specifications for the purchase of blueand brown-print paper, of which at least 500,000 pounds are consumed annually. Specifications for the production of water-resistant papers for baling have been published.'

24435-AGR 1920-19

Paper products, fiber board, wall board, and water-resistant wrapping papers are rapidly replacing wood and even tin as containers for certain kinds of food and merchandise. There are no methods for testing these materials or insuring the manufacture of a satisfactory box board that will withstand the forces of destruction met with in transportation, especially in overseas shipments. Neither is there any satisfactory method for determining the strength of fiber board, wall board, corrugated board, or water-resistant baling papers. Much work has been in progress in the last three years on these subjects, and some of the results have been published in the form of a description of an impact tester for fiber board, as well as a report upon water-resistant papers for baling.

The investigations relating to the water resistance of fiber board and the adhesives used in the manufacture of solid and corrugated fiber board and wall board have greatly stimulated the interest of the industry, especially those on the effect of silicate of soda when used as an adhesive on fiber board and on the value of the proper sizing of the board in increasing its water resistance. Following the work of the bureau on fiber board, the silicate of soda manufacturers and the fiber board associations established two fellowships at the Mellon Institute to investigate their technical problems. A much more intelligent and conservative use of silicate of soda has resulted from the bureau's work. Economy in silicate has been effected and a more durable water-resistant board is being made, although the deteriorating effect of silicate of soda on fiber board has not been overcome entirely.

Factory scale experiments have been made on the use of the adhesives from corn cobs, the production of which was described in 1919. Commercial mill runs have shown that this adhesive has great value in the production of corrugated and other fiber board. Valuable results have been obtained and board manufacturers very favorably impressed. Laboratory tests have given indications that both the corn-cob adhesives and certain kinds of purified concentrated sulphite cellulose liquors are very useful adhesives.

The results of the investigations upon the examination of enamel ware and upon the use of hydrogenated oils in place of palm oil in the manufacture of tin plate, described last year, have been published this year. Investigations of the suitability of different types of containers for the storage of baking powders and of dehydrated vegetables and fruits have been completed and prepared for publication. Specifications for the purchase of waterproofing and mildewproofing for canvas and of waterproof automobile top dressings have been prepared at the request of the War Department, and samples of waterproofing materials have been tested and advice given on the award of contracts. By this means the bureau was instrumental in saving the War Department approximately $24,000 on a single requisition and in securing a material much superior to that which it was on the point of ordering at about three times the price. Some of the indications from this work are (1) that the oleates of the heavy metals are more toxic than stearates to fungi; (2) that the soaps appear to fall in the following order in their inhibitive effect, barium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, mercury, manganese, lead, iron, cobalt, copper, zinc, nickel, aluminum, and chromium; (3) that

Aspergillus niger and Penicillium show a high degree of resistance to metallic soaps. A paper covering the work on soaps of the heavy metals is in preparation. Papers on methods of testing the water resistance of fabrics and on testing the mildew resistance of fabrics have been published. Farmers' Bulletin 1157, Waterproofing and Mildewproofing of Cotton Duck, is in course of publication.

NAVAL STORES.

Department Bulletin 898, Turpentine: Its Sources, Properties. Uses, Transportation, and Marketing, with Recommended Specifications, is in press. It endeavors to present to the producer and consumer certain elementary but very important information of great use to the industry.

METHODS AND APPARATUS.

Methods have been published for the estimation of monobromated camphor in migraine tablets, of water solubles in leather, of iodid and bromid in mineral waters and brines, of saccharin in urine, and of caffeine in vegetable material.

Papers have been published on the use of kaolin in tannin analyses and on the combination of fractionation with spectrophotometry in proximate organic analysis. Papers are in press on a color test for oxalic acid and on the Kjeldahl nitrogen method and its modifications. Reports are in press upon methods for the estimation of phosphatides, for the detection of neutralizers in butter, for the estimation of phenolphthalein, and for the separation of magnesium from sodium and potassium chlorids.

As a by-product of the regular testing to which all chemical reagents purchased by the bureau are subjected, notes upon sulphuric acid free from nitrates and the diphenylamine test for nitrates, upon potassium ferricyanide, upon methyl orange, and upon the quality of the chemicals received by the Bureau of Chemistry during the war were published.

There were distributed to the chemists of the bureau and to collaborating chemists information sheets containing critical discussions of the methods of examining the following products: Condensed milk, sweetened condensed milk, milk, cream, and oysters.

ANALYTICAL WORK FOR OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND BUREAUS.

Because of the return of the various Government establishments to a normal basis, only about one-third as much analytical work was done for them this year as last. The figures are collected in Table 5. In addition, a number of extensive investigations were carried out for other Government establishments, and much advisory work on the preparation of specifications and the like was done. The usual assistance was given the Post Office Department in connection with fraud-order cases.

For other bureaus of the Department of Agriculture a great deal of analytical work was done. For example, nearly 1,000 samples of insecticides and fungicides were examined for the Insecticide and

Fungicide Board, the Bureau of Entomology, and the Bureau of Plant Industry. More than 200 samples of water were examined for the Bureau of Public Roads, in connection with an investigation of the causes of deterioration of cement tile. The failure of cement tile to withstand the action of the soil and drainage waters is especially marked in southwestern Minnesota.

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CHIEF

REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

BUREAU OF SOILS,

Washington, D. C., August 19, 1920. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a report covering the operations of the Bureau of Soils for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1920.

Respectfully,

Hon. E. T. MEREDITH,

Secretary of Agriculture.

MILTON WHITNEY,

Chief of Bureau.

INTRODUCTION.

Sufficient time has now elapsed since the armistice to enable us to consider carefully and take stock of the achievements of the bureau during the feverish activities of the period of actual war and during the months of readjustment that followed. This survey brings out the fact that both in soil work and in fertilizer investigations many important advances have been made, with results that it is imperative to save and to introduce into commercial activities. To fail in this would be to lose a great opportunity to develop and perfect new commercial enterprises for the reconstruction period before us.

SOIL SURVEY.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1920, detailed soil surveys were completed or begun in 67 different areas, located in 31 different States. The area surveyed in these projects was 29,784 square miles or 19,061,760 acres. Reconnoissance surveys conducted in Texas covered 11,825 square miles, or 7,568,000 acres.

The total area covered by detailed surveys from the inception of the work to and including June 30, 1920, amounts to 547,733 square miles, or 350,549,120 acres, and by reconnoissance surveys 516.286 square miles, or 330,423,040 acres. This is a total of 1,064,019 square miles, or one-third of continental United States. There are in the Western States of course large areas of mountain lands and of deserts, where there is no immediate prospect of irrigation or of grazing, for which there will likely be no need of soil surveys.

The following tables show the areas surveyed during the fiscal year just closed and the total area surveyed in each State up to the present time:

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