The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-01-24
POTASH N THIS COUNTRY.
FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL DE
PAYMENTS SEARCH RE-
WARDED.
Most Promising Sources i'm United
states Are Beds Of Seaweed Along
Pacific Coast.

vestigation that the department Of
agriculture is making on the potash
deposits Of the United States will
soon be issued by Secretary Wilson
IN the form Of report from Prof
Whitney, chief Of the bureau of soils.
who is making a thorough investiga-
! tion Of the fertilizer resources of the
! country by direction Of Secretary Will
son through a special appropriation
authorized by the last session of con-
gress by an amendment from the ag-
! ricultural appropriation introduced
by Representative Lever of South
Carolina.
| stores Of potassium exist in the Uni
| ted States and that quantities of
| these deposits will soon be utilized on
| commercial scale. 1t further
makes the following interesting de-
ductions and recommendations "The
much increased production and wider
use of commercial fertilizers must ac-
company or closely follow the changes
and readjustments now taking place
in the United States. The United
, States has within its boundaries sup
plies of raw material for a standard
type of fertilizers. These supplies
will be ample for p long or indefinite
| period. Oaicial investigation, super
vision and control Of natural sup
| plies Of raw materials are very de-
sirable-to prevent undue wastage, to
encourage legitimate manufacture
| ings, and to conserve the interests Of
the public, especially the farmers
and small investors"
The most promising source of pot
ash in the United States, the report
! states are the beds of seaweed or
kelp groves along the Pacific coast,
| These groves are frequently Very ex-
! tensive, the most importa ut cf which
| lies along the southern coast from
| Point Sur to Magdalena bay. The re-
port states, however, that there are
| important deposits in other sections
Of the country and adds significantly
| that conditions point to Salt Lake
City and Ogden as the great fertilizer
manufacturing centres of the future"
| Hitherto the smelter interests have
objected to converting their fumes
into sulphuric acid on the two-fold
ground that the people in their To-
calities do not use fertilizers and if
they did use them the production of
acid would be far greater than the
demand. But if the smelters of Utah
were to follow the suggestion here of
fered, they could put high grade fer
| tilizers on the market so cheaply that
in a few years the agricultural in
terests Of the surrounding territory
would use their entire output, and an
important industry would develop.
| Obviously. it would be a public work
Of the first national Importance to
develop such an industrial centre
midway in the territory between the
Mississippi and Pacific coast
TIE report says that glauconite, the
| characteristic of greensand marls and
| pronounced constituent of potash, oc-
cur in large deposits in New Jersey
and the South Atlantic Gulf States.
| Of to ovid
more definite information which will
reveal the locations of potash de-
! posts in the country for a later re-
! port on the ground that the investi-
cation has not progressed far enough
for him TO give definite information
regarding these deposits, as the in
vestigators are now engaged in field
investigation ard laboratory analy-
| sis.
| The report states that potash beds
| may be found in the Humboldt Bas-
! in, Nevada, and the Surprise, Warner
| and Christmas valleys of Oregon, and
| the Salton Basin of California, but
explaining IAN enormous evaporation
! must have taken place TO deposit any
| considerable quantity of potash from
such natural waters as are now known
entering the desert basins. and evap-
| Oratioa possibly greater than there
| is any reason to believe actually took
| place" There is no evidence that
high concentration of potash existed
in the earlier drainage. or that any
selected action ever took place The
existence of potash beds in arid re-
gions Of this country can not be pre-
dicted with any confideAce'
The report, in conclusion, states
that at present about $4,000 600