The Cecil Whig., 1872-12-28
;m,nlShe E'ar,tt.
POTASH AS A FERTILIZER.

The sources from which potash may b'
derived as fertilizer are:
The ashes of various woods and plants
The German potash salts.
Potash of commerce. ,,;,o
In addition, nature is constantly .he de-
slowly but surely, her quota n'
composition of rocks. st commonly
OF these sources, thai nav form some
used is wood d-ashes, ana .,s foHowing aver
;ds, of their value from
- lions apalysess satas on,
aso Vi '" later; Csi'oo''
Soluble IN n.,"riases, and silicates OF
pilates and soda 13 per cent.
po'.nre: Carbonate, silicate, and a
.n,an amount Of phosphate of lime. 81
per cent.
Of the soluble matter the potash varies
with the kind of wood used and where
grown, but we may average it at tive-sixtbs.
Then we have the German potash salts,
containing about as follows:
Sulphate potassa so per cent.
Sulphate magnesia l6 per cent.
Chloride maguesia A per cent.
Sulphate of lime IL per cent.
Chloride of sodium 81 per cent.
Then comes the potash of commerce
which usually contains about IS per cent.
of pure carbonate of potassa, and II per
cent. of suphate.
l, is only in favored localities that any
great quantity of ashes can be obtained.
and those locations are generally where it
is not much needed. The German potash
salts are somewat variable in quality, but
are the cheapest sources of this fertilizer.
At its present low price, the potash OF COM
merce may be used.
Such being the sources from whence we
can derive the potash base, we come to the
mode of using and its value as manure
Taking ashes as base, and. if we mix
twelve pounds of potassa of commerce with
ninety-two pounds Of earh, we shall have
rs good manure as the ashes, at a cost of
$1.O8 for the 100 pounds. If we mix for
ty pounds of the standard German potash
salts with sixty pounds of earth, we shall
have, at cost of sixty cents, fertilizer
better than ashes. Hence there need be no
complaint oD the part of the farmer that
he cannot get potash for his soil, for, if he
cannot get ashes, he may readily make a
fertilizer fully their equivalent, if not su-
perior.
The chief use of potash in soils is to ren-
der the silicic acid, or silica, soluble. In
this form it enters the plants. Potash as
a food for man or beast does not rank in
the list of direct beneficials; it is merely an
alder in digesting foods which go to furn-
ism strength and nourishment At the
same time it is an absolute essential. and
without potash or some other alkal the pro
duct of soil would be of little value. II
that soil were all sand nothing wonld grow
in it; if all muck, as in great swamps,
there would be rank vegetation of plants
whose stalks would have no strength.
Sand is necessary to give strength to the
stalk, and potash or soda is necessary to
make the sand dissolve. For this reason.
while not entering actually into our ami
maj econohy, potasii IS d heeessieJ ioi al
crops. The skin of the apple. the bark OF
the tree, the vine of the potato. all contain
it; the base of all plants and trees, the ash,
that substance which of all is not resolva-
BILE into air, has it or some other alkali as
its fundamental principle; and of all the
alkalies, potash is the most valuable and
most universally distributed.
We conceive that at the present time the
most available source of potash as a food
for plants is the German potash salts. We
arrive at this conclusion from the facts
shown in the above analysis. and from the
price of that article. From the analysis it
is seen to contain not only sulphate Of pot
ash, but also sulphates Of lime and mag
nesia. 1t is well known that many farm
ers prefer to use ashes and plaster in CON-
bination; in the above we have them
Again, the potash exist as a sulphate,
thereby being a fixer of ammonia, which
the carbonate of the common ashes is not.
Lastly, they can be bought Of guaranteed
per cent. at $50 per ton.