The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1885-09-30
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.
The Sources Of the Ingredients OF Chem
cal Fertilizers.
POTASH

IL it the result of the combination of
metal potassium with oxygen. Its for
nula is written 10, because potassium
10 also called kaliun.
1t was known TO Gebcr in the ninth
century. but was not distinguished
from soda until 1892 by Margrag. Its
Rame is derived from two English
words, pot and ashes, because the
English were the first TO prepare this
alkali; industriallv by teaching the
ashes Of vegetation and c~vaporating the
solution in pots.
There are three principal sources of
potash: felaspathic and granite rocks,
The deposits of rock salt and sea water.
GRANTEES ~Wbichmform whole chains of
mountains and tho greater part of the
crust of the earth contain Is to 20 per
cent. Of potash in all insolublc state, it
10 true, but which can be extracted as
ncoded and made perfectly soluble.
Deposits Of rock salt, containing
much potash, have been formed by the
drying of inland seas, leaving . de-
post Of all the salts they held in solu-
Gou. These were large salt lakes
Jwhose bottoms were above the level of
Hhc surrounding waters. The Caspian
Sea on account fits great depth is still
. type Of these interior seas.
There arc important mines OF rock
salt As Vieliczka in Poland, at Cordona
Catalonia and Stassfurt in Prussia, and
In America. AT the Universal Expo
sitiom in 1867, ut Parish, we saw al
immense arch which Prussia had made
In her section with blocks of rock salt
like shaped stones.
If the deposits of rock salt actually
known were concentrated in one part
Of the globe, they would cover n piece
Of ground 10000 yards wide, $4,000
yards long and 800 feet thick. This
.uass Of soda and potash does not rep
resent tho two hundredth part Of these
salts contained in tho waters covering
cur globe.
Potash is also found abundantly in
the form of o nitrate (Ko. No. 5.) on
certain soils during the dry season in
Bengal, Egypt, at Ceylon, and in some
warm parts of America. But sea
water alone 10 an i~nexhaustible source
OF potash. Formerly sea water was
eslt was extracted. The usefulness
end even the presence of other salts
was not suspected. Sea water, when
concentrated, deposits it's salts accord
Ing to thcir degr}e O. Of solubility. Sui
phate Of lime, which is almost insolu-
BILE, Is frat deposited, thor cooking
ealt, or chloride OF sodium, then
Gaiphate Of soda, and lastly the double
chloride Of potassium and magncsia.
In tho deposits Of rock salt we find
the salts deposited according to order
Of eolu5ility just as we Gee it now from
salt seas. The eminent French chem
tsf, Mr.. Ballard, was the first to lind a
method Of extracting chloride Of potas-
oinm from sea water. This salt is
Useful only for it's potash, but for
agricultural purposes it's value is Of the
Arst order.
Ordinary yea water contains q two
thousandth of its own weight in it.
In treating nitrate Of soda by chic
ii Of potassium we obtain nitrate OF
potash, also called nitre or saltpetrc.
Nitrate Of potash is a perfectly crystal
lied salt, easily worked aud ought
always to be used to furnish tie potash
for chemical fertilizers. II is suitable
for all cultures, except perhaps for
suGar beets. This exception was dis
covered by, Prof. George Vile. The
juice of the beet grown with ahloride
OF potassium is purer aud crystalizcs
better; grown with nitrate of potash a
part Of the juice takea the form of
glucose or uncrys;alized sugar pre-
vents the crystalizing ofanothcr pound
OF crystalizab,0 sugar. This is due to
the fact that in the form of o nitrate
the potash remains ia the body OF the
beet aud pRsses into the juice, injurin2
its capitalization, while in the form OF
6 chloride the potash towards the close
OF the GUNNER risca into the crown OF
The plant and into ito leaves which arc
G away when the beet is pulled.
The poaash in chloride Of potassium
10 cheaper than in nitrate of potash,
but the chloride must not be used for
certain cultures, and ita Introduction
into the fertilizer unknown to the
buyer, 10 o real deception. Chloride
Of potassium should never DO uscd for
tobacco and Irish potatoes.
Nitrate Of potash, besides being ap-
plicable to all plants, with the cxccp-
ton Of sugar beets, 10 more valuable,
in that it contains two active elements
potash and nitrogen. Ii furnishes
potash by its base and nitrogen by it's
eeid. The nitrate Of potash Of com
nserce contains "A per cent. of pure
potash and Is per cent. OF nitrogen,
whose value is 10 be deducted from
the net coat Of the potash. The chic
ride Of potassium contains so per cent.
efpure potash.
Potash Ia indispensable to the soil,
end not only for the real part 1t takes
In the formation Of vegetation, its use
&oes further. The phosphatcs of lime
and magnesia insolublc in water, meet
ing the potash, form the double phos-
phates of lime and potash which are
Ooluble and can pass into the plants.
Nitrate of potash is used in the com
position of g~unpowder to as much as
three -fourths Of its weight, making
inc nitrate scarccr and more costly ut
times.
When the government makes its
purchases the price rises for awhile.
b Ia II fact more to increase tie
eata8onism between var aud agricul-
ture.
Lime ie formed by the combination
o. tho metal calcium with oxyge