REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 43 



during transportation, storage, and distribution has been developed 

 to the stage of commercial application. The economic importance of 

 this reduction of distribution hazard and prevention of waste of 

 wholesome fruit is readily apparent when it is remembered that 

 these two crops in Florida alone now yield from 13,000,000 to 16,- 

 000,000 boxes each year. «, i 



Recent studies of the salts carried in irrigation water have given a 

 somewhat different point of view for the consideration of alkali 

 troubles in irrigated land. In many districts the chief concern of the 

 irrigation farmer is to prevent accumulation of alkali salts in harm- 

 ful quantities in good land, rather than to reclaim salty land for use 

 in crop production. These observations indicate the importance to 

 the irrigation farmer of understanding the character of the soil solu- 

 tion and of using irrigation water in such a way as to prevent the 

 accumulation of excessive quantities of soluble material from the 

 soil. 



Two different methods have been developed for determining the 

 total quantity of colloidal material in soils and it has been found 

 that colloids constitute a far larger part of the whole soil than previ- 

 ously had been thought, some of the heavier soils containing from 

 60 to 70 per cent. Progress also has been made in determining the 

 properties of the colloids present in different soils. With these facts 

 established it should be possible to gain a more correct insight into 

 the chemical processes of the soil than has hitherto been possible. It 

 is now possible to get a better insight into the nature of soil composi- 

 tion, and the new methods are applicable in the study of agricultural 

 soils, of material used for building levees and foundations, of drain- 

 age and irrigation conditions, and of geologic formations. 



By modifying the process ordinarily used in the preparation of 

 ammonium phosphate so as to include the use of commercial potas- 

 sium chloride, as well as phosphoric acid and ammonia, it has been 

 found that a product containing all of the essential constituents 

 of fertilizer, and of corresponding concentration, may easily be ob- 

 tained. Chemical and physical properties of this material make the 

 new method admirably suited for preparing fertilizer material for 

 transportation. Manufacturing concerns have taken such an in- 

 terest in this process as to express a willingness to test it out on a 

 commercial scale. 



