The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1914-11-28
The Potash Famine

source of supply now cut off by the
European war, there will inevitably
be famine of this material as soor
as present stocks are exhausted. Ac.
cording to the Wall Street Journal, the
price has already advanced from e
to 15c per Id. Potash is essential to
plant growth and is one of the three
constituents of a complete fertilizer;
the other two being phosphorus and
nitrogen. Enormous quantities are
used annually by the farmers of this
country and this famine bids fair to
be serious matter to our agricul
tural interests. There is, however, a
way out available to the large proper
ton of farmers. Almost all soils con-
tain potash; most contain enough for
all present plant requirements, while
some contain large excess beyond
these requirements. As a rule, how
ever, the potash is in insoluble COM
binations which render it unavailable,
or at least, only very slowly available
to plants. If the store of potash in
the soil could be. made available as
needed, it would be many years before
the average farmer would have to
worry about the price of potash ferti-
lizer and the source of his supply. For
tunately, an agent is at hand to ac-
complish this result.
Lime, in addition to its valuable ac-
ton 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 extent it also
renders more readily available the
soil stores of phosphorus. The follow
ing quotations from some representa-
tive authorities will serve to establish
these points.
E. H. Jenkins and f. M. East, Bull
letin 1913, Connecticut Agricultural
Experiment Station:-" The element
calcium is necessary constituent of
plants; but as almost all soils contain
it il. sufficient amounts for their
needs, the action of lime is not like
that of a direct fertilizer Indirectly,
however, tits an agent by which in
soluble potash is changed to a form
available as plant food H. j. Pat
terson, Bulletin ITO, Maryland Agri-
cultural College Lime has not only
the effect of aiding in the forming of
unions of potash which will be held in
the soil, but it also has the ability TO
liberate potash from combinations
which are locked up and unavailable
to plants. This is particularly mark
ed when lime is annIiedl zta-'Hnd con-
q-ss.-z-s-su=a--s~s--s.nrsr--~
tairiTg fragments of feldspar." W.
B. Elicit, Bulletin l67, Virginia Agri-
cult. al Experiment Station: "Near-
ly ; soils, especially clay soils, con-
tai lore or less of the plant food
pot. , in an insOtuble form, so that
pla cannot use It. Lime acts upon
this soluble potash, and liberates it,
mali 9 it available for the growth of
p!arj or as it might be put, "palat-
abb. to the plants. Most of the en-
pc l. ants conducted show that caus-
tic me will act quicker and better in
m; g potash available, if that is the
chief object sought by lining, than
any other form o! lime. Lime also
helps to unlock phosphoric acid that
is il combination with iron and alum
mum. and so is ireolub!e. Most Vir-
ginia soils, and especially the Pied
mot soils, are rich in iron com
pounds. A chemical analysis may
show one Of these soils to be rich in
acid, yet field experiment
may show that this same soil is bena-
fitted more by an application of phos-
phoric acid than any other plant food.
This is because much of the phos-
phoric acid in the soil is in combina-
ton 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 Vir-
ginia Agricultural Experiment Sta
ton: "Lime makes plant food avail
able. Potash is usually present in
much larger quantities than other
constituents of plant food that are
likely to be deficient; and yet so much
of it may be so securely held by the
soil particles, that the application of n
comparatively small quantity of so!u-
BILE potash will often increase the
yield. If lime is abundant it tends TO
'liberate' potash, r,aking it more read
lily accessible to plants"