REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. XLI 



Equally significant results arc looked for in the introduction of 

 Havana tobacco into the tobacco districts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and 

 Texas, and there was a great demand from these States to map the 

 soils and investigate the possibilities of introducing- new varieties of 

 tobacco which would bring a higher market price and would tend to 

 diminish the imports of the finer qualities of tiller tobacco. 



There was a strong demand from the fruit growers for the prepara- 

 tion of maps showing the distribution of the important fruit lands, 

 particularly of the mountain areas in the Atlantic Coast States. The 

 success of the mountain peaches in western Maryland and of the pippin 

 and other varieties of apples in the mountains of Virginia and North 

 Carolina, and the experience that these were successful only on certain 

 types of soil, made it appear that a detailed soil map would be advan- 

 tageous and would tend to prevent costly experiments on soils which 

 3 7 ears of experience might show unsuited to the crop. 



The important commercial development of the sugar-beet industry 

 and the large investments necessary in the establishment of sugar fac- 

 tories have created considerable interest and wide demand for soil- 

 survey work in order to locate the best sugar-beet soils where climatic 

 and other conditions were supposed to be favorable for the building 

 up of this industry. The director of the Arizona Experiment Station 

 reported that the sugar content in pounds per acre from five charac- 

 teristic soils of that Territory ranged from 1,491 to 3,361 pounds, the 

 intermediate yields being 1,521, 2,006, and 2,267 pounds, and declared 

 that it was exceedingly desirable to have the soil outlined that gave 

 the largest yields of sugar. Urgent requests on similar lines came 

 from important sugar-beet areas of the southern and central coast 

 regions of California and from those of New York and Michigan, as 

 well as other States. With the training and experience of our field 

 men the soils of these areas can be definitely outlined and their rela- 

 tion to the production and purity of sugar beets determined in advance 

 of any costly investments which might prove unprofitable. 



The work of the soil survey in the Western irrigated distinct and the 

 investigation of the alkali problem, which has been a serious menace 

 in certain localities, and the results of this survey, which show that the 

 problem can be easily and economically controlled by underdrainage 

 and improved cultural methods, have aroused a great deal of interest, 

 and many urgent requests have been made that the work be extended 

 to other areas. 



The tobacco investigations are bringing most important results by 

 the introduction of new varieties and better methods of handling the 

 crop, thereby creating new and more important types for this country 

 and improving those already grown. It was found imperatively 

 necessary, in order to obtain the best results, to secure the very best 



