The weekly Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1860-1863, 1861-12-26
About Sni,petre.

The news brought by the steamer Eu.
ropa of the proclamation o. the Queen Of
England prohibiting the export from the
United Kingdom Of gunpowder brim
s'one, nitrate OF soda aud satpetre, is
stimulating speculation in the latter arli.
Gle, with which our market is ordinarily
supplrd almost VIII lily froa British sour.
ces. Tho pri e advanced yesterday 10 8
Gems \ pound, from the quotations of .
cents and | cents for the week previous,
and parties in this city are cndeavoring 10
secure sufficient control Of the market to
fix the price 10 suit themselves Tpey
should b" made to. understand however,
that Cover sment wlil not permit unwar
ranted combination and specuIalons n an
article Of such prime necessity in lime of
war, and, # o casion shall call for it, the
stock in market will be ken possession
Of II a 'air pr'ce, TO be fixed without re.
gard TO merely private interests
Though we h've at present larg-
supply on hand, The proclamation Of the
Q ieen, il long c'rrind out may occasion
us snme inconvenience, as nrarly all Of
our saltpr.re is derived from the British
possessions in India. some OF il being
shipped at Calcutta, aud the rest coming
round 10 US through EnglanI. In its
crude state, as nitrate Of potash, it is
found abundantly in The surfce Of the
soil in ths Indian Kingdom OF Odde, and
to some exent,aso, 10 Egypt and South.
ern Italy, though the amount imported
from the latter countries is lridmg,-
Large quantities of nitrate Of soda or
South American salrpeter, as 1t Is called,
are obained in Chill and Peru. and this
may be easily converted into the purest
Of sallpot-r, as it was during the Russian
wal, when the markets OF that country
were supplied WITH saltprrer thus mlnu
f.c,nr.d in this country aLd shipped 10
Russi by The way ol Hamburg.
Sallp ter can also be Obtained in The
United States from the Iinestone caves
thai abound in K uIurky an other sec
tons This was aImos, our only s,nre
o supply during our last war with Eus
land, which cut us 1T from our d. peud
euct upon her Indian possessions Earth
yicldin. 10 per cent, of niIe is said to he
found nem Nashville. Tom, in quantities
sufficient to supply the entire country
though. just Mt present, this is not likely
10 help our Government There is AZ
artificial process, 90, ;or manufacturing
Sal p ter from beds of dec Wing vag. g.tabln
and animal substances, mixed with old
mortar aud other refuse oslcarrous earth.
But this isa slow process, requ,rlnl tw
or three We re-, 80 that it is no. avail bls
in an emergency, 1t Is chiefly used lnI
Gc many.
The wars of N,polcon compelled the
French to make themselves iud pendant
of the rest oIthe worl,i in their spppy OF
This prominent iugredien OF tn suapow
der they us,d 50 lavishly and PROFESS
was then invenled by the French chemists
for making saltpetsr fromold plaster rub,
bish. This has enabled France to dis |
penEe entirely with foreign supply
When the emergency shall stimulate Da.
tive production with us, We shall find
oprss Ives equally Independent, though |
meanwhile We may have To submit 10
high prices, rendered still more exorbi.
tan by the greedy spirit Of speculation.
The price Of saltpeter 10 at all times liable