302 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Tlie fumls available for the jjast year's work were mea<^er, since 

 thev failed to provide for the develojiinents that we had in mind 

 during the preeedin<; year and absolutely failed to consider the rise 

 in price of all sorts of commodities and of labor, which rise, of 

 <'ourse, could not be foreseen when the appropriation was decided 

 upon. As a consequence, it was necessary first of all to curtail ex- 

 ])enditures wherever that was possible; and since expenditures for 

 laboi- were the fjreatest to be incurred, it was there that economies 

 Avere principally to be effected. Accordin<rly, the personnel was re- 

 duced to the lowest possible figure, and elaborations of process and 

 investi<;ation were promptly discontinued. The plant was operated 

 throu<rh the year on the most conservative and economical basis 

 possible, and yet make any pro<?ress at all. The prof^ress recorded, 

 therefore, is that which was accomjslished in spite of the most ad- 

 verse conditions with respect to funds, scarcity of labor and all sorts 

 of commodities, \n}i}\ i)rices, and a radically deflated nuirket for the 

 main product yielded, potash. 



The results accomplished on the extraction of potash have been 

 very encouraging during the 3'ear. The output has steadily climl-ed 

 upward, while at the same time unit cost of production has moved 

 downward. The increase in efficienc}^ during the year may be illus- 

 trated by a comparison of the record for June, 1919, with that of 

 the same month of the present year. During the former month 892 

 tons of wet kelp were dried at a cost of $20.47 per ton, and during 

 the latter 2,136 tons, at a cost of $9.72 per ton, a decrease in cost per 

 ton of $10.75. This increase in efficiency makes the drying capacity 

 equal the harvesting capacity of the Joseph Priestley. In fact w^e 

 should be justified in using the larger harvester, Mayfioiver, in place 

 of the Joseph Priestley^ if it were not for the difficulty of handling 

 the larger boat steadily in rough weather, particularly during the 

 winter. 



During the year little progress was made in the destructive dis- 

 tillation of kelp, since there were no fimds available for the con- 

 struction of suitable retorts, so the incinerator installed formerly as 

 a makeshift apparatus was kept in continuous operation throughout 

 that period. 



The lixiviator for extracting potash and iodine from char and the 

 preparation of brine for evaporation operated throughout the year 

 without a hitch and without trouble, requiring the attendance of only 

 one operator for one shift, the lixiviator handling in one shift the 

 entire output in char of the incinerator operating three shifts. 



The evaporator throughout the j-ear was operated two shifts a day, 

 requiring a force of two operators. Improvements in equipment and 

 operation have reduced the time for operating the evaporator by at 

 least 50 per cent, which will be reflected in a lower production cost 

 for the coming year. The output of potash salts is now approxi- 

 mately 2 tons per day of 80 per cent muriate. A ready market has 

 been found for all the products, which are being sold on a contract 

 running to December of 1920. Sales of potash during the year netted 

 a gross return of some $50,000. The problem of producing a bleach- 

 ing carbon on a large scale has been successfully met during the year. 

 Because of the necessity of acid-proof apparatus in the extraction 

 of the carbon with hydrochloric acid and the lack of funds to secure 

 such apparatus made of metal there was constructed a system of 



