Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1903-06-06
STATE CHEMISTS TALK
A Treatise on Agricultural
Chemistry.
AN INTERESTING RESUME
Potash-Its Importance as a Plant
Food; Sources From Which Derived.
Wood Ashes-stassfust Deposits.

Wood Ashes-stassfust Deposits.
The only source of potash known
20 our fathers was ashes, mainly wood
ashes, and while potash from this
yet evidently the quantity available
must be quite limited. The great
majority of soils, especially those
which contain much clay, usually hold
a large reserve of potash, and do not
appear to require the special applica-
ton of potash as manure. Light
sandy soils on the other hand, and
some clay soils also appear to be quite
deficient in potash and are much bene-
hted by applications of that fertilizer
Soils of this nature, therefore, stand
as much in need of constant potash ma
nuring as of phosphorio acid and nj
trogen applications.
Wood ashes, whilst they may be
cheap and easily obtained in countries
where large forest areas are to be
cleared, in older countries cannot be
SO easily obtained. Long before fer
t1lzerS became a commercial cOmmOd-
1ty wood ashes were highly thought
Of by farmers. But usually when a
farmer buys ashes he buys in the
dark, owing to the fact that ashes
vary SO widely in their contents of
potash. AS rule, ashes from hard
woods are richer in potash than those
from soft woods. The ash of the red
oak for instance contains about per
cent of potash, that of the hickory
about 9 per cent, some pine woods
about Az per cent. No definite per
centage, however, can be laid down for
any special wood, as the same wood
will vary in different localities, and
the wood of different parts of the
same tree will vary, the ashes from
the twigs and young limbs being rich
er in potash than the ashes from the
body or trunk of the tree.
It Is impossible to fix the value of
lot of ashes, except by special analy-
sis Of the particular lot, owing to this
great variability in composition, and
owing to the further fact that the
ashes may have been leached or mixed
with more or less dirt. The average
analysis for good unleached ashes may
be taken as per cent of potash, ~
per cent of phosphor1c acid, and 3212
per cent Of lime. According to the
values for fertilizers adopted for the
present season, a ton of good average
ashes at the coast should be worth
four dollars and fifteen cents. This
calculation allows no value to the lime,
although of course it has decided val
ue on such soils as are deficient in 1t.
Luckily since the middle of the last
century, farmers have eeen no longer
compelled to rely on ashes as a source
of potash, but have come to adopt in
their stead almost universally what
are known as the German or Stassfurt
potash salts.
These salts are mined in Stassfurt
In northern Germany, in the province
Of Saxony. They were discovered by
the Prussian government while boring
for rock salt about the year 1857. At
first they were considered worthless,
but soon the great Chemist Liebig
began publishing his discoveries con.
corning plant growth and nutrition,
showing potash to be an essential and
much-needed element in the growth
and development of plants. This led
to the development of the potash
mines, and the utilization for agricul-
ture of the precious salts contained in
them. The first potash salt works
for the manufacture and sale of the
potash salts was established in Stass-
furt In 1852 Some of thu crude ores
are suited for agricultural use just as
they are dug from the mines, and are
known as Kainit, Carnallite, Sylvinit.
The Kainit contains on an average of
about 121a per cent of potash, the
Carnallite about 10 per cent, and the
Sylvinit 16 per cent of potash. AS
there is a great demand for these
products all over the world, and the
freightage to long distances is quite
an item, 1t became desirable to concen.
trate the potash IN these natural prod
ucts as much as possible, so as to
avoid the cost of transportation on the
salts contained in them useless to agri.
culture
The great factories OF the German
| crude Kainit, Carnallite and Sylvlnit,
muriates of potash containing 45 per
| cent, so per cent and 55 per cent of
actual potash, also sulphates of pot
| ash containing from 48 to 81 per cent
of actual potash, also what is known as
Double Manure Salts" with 26 per
cent of potash A complete analy-
sis of all these various products and
some others will be found ON another
page Of this bulletin.
These deposits are practically mex
| haustible in quantity and will supply
the agricultural world for many years
to come. Should they ever become
exhausted doubtless new discoveries
will be made, and IL not, potash could
| doubtless be obtained, though, of
course, at greater cost, from such wa
| ters as those of the Dead Sea-" There
need, therefore, be no fear of the sup
| ply running short. Having now CIV
en- you brief account of the differ
ent raw materials used in the man
ufacture of "guano," or commercial
| fertilizers, we will next consider the
methods in use by the manufacturers
| for converting these raw materials
into finished products.
| The Acid Phosphate lndustry-Descrip.
tion of Process of Manufacture.
The foundation of the great modern
industry Of commercial fertilizers Is
the manufacture Of superphosphata,
or as 1t IL more generally known in