Middletown transcript., 1914-09-26
THE POTASH FAMINE
The Worlds Supply Is Obtained
From Germany
ESSENTIAL 10 PLANT CROWTH


The worlds supply of potash is OBJ
tanned from Germany, and with this
source of supply now cut off by the
European war, there will inevitably be
a famine of this material as soon as
present stacks are exhausted. Accord
ing to Wall Street Journal, the price
has already advanced from cents to Is
cents per pound.
Potash is essential to plant growth
and is one of the three constituents of
complete fertilizer, the other two being
phosphorus and nitrogen. Enormous
quantities are used annua ly by the
farmers of this country, and this famine
bids fair to be a serious matter to our
agricultural interests. There is, how
ever, a way out available to the large
proportion of farmers.
Almost all soils contain potash; most
1,7ain enough for all present plant re-
qdlrements, while some contain large
excess beyond these requirements. As
a rule, however, the potash is in irsol-
uble combinations which render it un-
available or ut least only very slowly
available to plant. If the store of pot
ash in the soil could be made available
as needed, it would be many years be-
fore the average farmer would have to
worry about the price of potash fertili-
zer and the source of his supply. For
tunately, an agent is at hand to accom-
plish this result.
Lime, in addition to its valuable action
in neutralizing soil acidity and supplying
the needed calcium for plant growth,
has the property of rendering soluble
and available to plant life the store of
inert potash in the soil. To a lesser ex-
tent it also renders more readily avail
able the soil stores of phosphorus. The
following quotations from some repre-
sentative authorities will serve to es-
tablish these points:
E. H. jenkins and E. M. East, Bulle-
tin 1853, Connecticut Agricultural Ex-
periment Station: ''The element cal
cium is a necessary constituent OF
plants; but as almost all soils contain 1t
in sufficient amounts for their needs,
the action of lime is not like that of a
direct fertilizer. Indirectly, however,
it is an agent by which insoluble potash
is changed to a form available as plant
food. "
H. J. Patterson, Bulletin ITO, Mary
land Agricultural Station: 'Lime has
not only the effect of aiding in the for
nation of unions of potash which will be
held in the soil, but it also has the abil-
ity to liberate potash from combinations
which ale locked up and unavailable to
plants. This is particularly marked
when lime is applied to land containing
fragments of feldspar. -
W. B. Elicit, Bulletin 169, Virginia
Agricultural Experiment S a t o n:
'rNearly all soils, especially clay soils,
contain more or less of the plant food
potash in an insoluble form, so that
plants cannot use it. Lime acts upon
this insouble potash and iberates II,
making it available for the growth of
plants, or, as it might be put, palat-
able to the plants. Most of the expert
ments conducted show that caustic lime
will act quicker and better in making
potash available if that is the chief OBJ
iect by lining, than any other form of
lime.
Lime also helps to unlock phos-
phoric acid that is in combination with
iron and aluminium, and so is insolible.
Most Virginia soils, and especially the
Piedmont soils, are rich in iron com
pounds. A chemical analysis may
show one of these soils to be rich in
phosphoric acid, yet field experiment
NAV show that this same soil is benetit
ed more by an application of phosphe
acid than any other plant food. This -
because much of the phosphoric acid in
the soil is in combination with the iron,
and hence cannot be used by plants.
Lime acts upon the iron, compounds,
making some of the phosphoric acid
available"
B. H. Hite, Circular 6, West Virginia
Agricultural Experiment Station: "Lime
makes plant food available. Potash is
unusually present in much larger quanti-
ties than other constituents of plant
food that are like to be deficient, and
yet so much of it may be so securely
held by the soil particles that applica-
ton of a comparatively small quantity
of soluble potash will often increase the
yield. If lime is abundant it tends to
4liberate' potash, making it more readily
accessible to plants.