Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-02-08

per cent of potash and 80 per cent o.
aluminium oxide and that n process hal
been devised and a company organized
to work this material for the aluminium
thus obtaining the potash as a by-pro
duct If this is true, this may soon be
come a commercial source of potash
This plant, however, has not been pu
in operation and our immediate needs
of potash for agricultural purposes
cannot be supplied from this source. /
is the belief of the writer that the cos
Of potash will be too great as long a:
the present Europen war lasts to b.
used for agricultural purposes. Thu
fear of a cheap and large supply from
the Stassfurt mines after the war ha!
ended hinders American capital from
investing too heavily in producing pot
ash from American sources. II !!
believed that the potash industry o
America can only be successfully de
veloped when the government offers pro
lection In the way of tariff. Whethe
or not this will benefit the agriculture
classes is doubtful.
Alunite AS q Source OF Potash.
There are deposits of potash salts Il
the semi-arid regions of the west AM
this is likely to become the most i'm
mediate source of potash. Potash iron
this source is being put on the marke
at the present time by some of tn
fertilizer manufacturers, but the de
mand for other uses, such as the manu-
facture of war munitions, renders tn
price so high that little of 1t will flint
it's way into mixed fertilizers. Thi
supply is limited to probably less THAI
fifty tons per day. The material be
ing worked is called alunite which 4
a hydrated basic potash alum and OF
account of it's being made soluble yer,
easily the cost of separating it from
the aluminium is not so great.
The Use OF Fertilizers for the Presen
Year.
on account of the scarcity and higl
price of potash very little of the mike
fertilizers offered for sale will contain
potash salts in the mixture. This open
up the possibility for fraud and man,
claims may be made as the potash con
tent of fertilizers which contain onl
the potash, which occurs naturally Il
such material as cotton seed meal o
that which is not available. The farme
can not be too careful in the purchas
ing of mixed fertilizers. PRACTICALLY
all material for manufacturing fertile
ers is above normal in price and it i
a question whether the extensive us
of mixed fertilizers will be profitabl
or not.
Provided the farmer can secure cot
ton seed meal sufficiently cheap, it ap
pears that a mixture of acid phosphat
and cotton seed meal will be the bes
fertilizer to be used, as the cotton see
meal will contain a small per cent. O
available potash. If the price of cot
ton seed meal is prohibitive, othe
sources of nitrogen, such as tankag
and dried, may be used
Experiments carried out by the de
partment of agronomy of the colleg
seem to indicate that potash does no
pay for general crops, especially in tn
central and northern parts of the state
Chemical analysis shows that most o
these soils contain a liberal supply o
potash locked up in the soil which ma
be liberated by deep blowing, the ad
dition of organic matter and the prope
use of lime and it is better for tn
farmer to rely on this source for sup
plying the crop with potash than {
depend on the commercial supply.
RATIONS FOR DAIRY HERD.
n p, New Market Va, writes Please