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Show POTASH DISCOVERY Report From U. S. Department Depart-ment of Agriculture Bears on Fertilizer Situation. SITUATION IS SERIOUS As Result of Embargo on Exportation Supply of j Substance Is Cut Off. The vast Import a Tire of the discovery of potash In commercial riuantlties in I ' ifih is emphasized in a report received here yesterday from the United St if tos secret ii ry of apri (culture, bearing on the feiiiliiici- Miuutlon in the United States. Ameri an farmers, the report says, are confronted by n serious situation in ref- J ere nee to fcri iliJug mateiials. Ah a re- 1 suit of the cmharpo placed by the Ger- j man government on the exportation of ! pot nsh the .supply of this substance has j been entirely cut off. T'nder normal con- 1 (lit ions sulphuric acid, wiilrh Is reuutred In the making of su per-phospha tes. Is polr) for p.i or ?t a ton. The increased demand for it since, the t.eglntting of the Duropcan war has caused the price to i to about a ton. making it im possible for farmers to obtain superphosphates super-phosphates at prices which t hoy have I re n accustomed to pay. However, the. nitrogen supply is not materially less tiian usiiai. In 101". when conditions wore normal, a bout $1 25,20,000 worth of commercial fen i liners was used in tho United States. I'tf this amount the farmers paid $48, $20,-f'Of) $20,-f'Of) for nitrogenous substances. $;'). 000,-uflO 000,-uflO for phosphates and $20,r0.0nfi for pot-a pot-a -h salts. Practical! v all t be potash Hiilts were imported from Germany and the entire riuantity of nitrate of soda came from Chile. A mm on iu in sulpha te to the al ne of S3. 7 20,000 was received from jihroad, mainly from Kngland. The remainder re-mainder of the fertilizing materials was derived from domestic sources. Increase in Price. There is practically no potash in Amer-i Amer-i a at the present time for fertilizer use. The small quantities which were held over from former years are now priced at from ei'lit to twelve1 times their normal v nine. The investigations of the United states geological survey have shown the possibility of producing from American sources a supply of potash salts for do-'"siiic do-'"siiic consumption. The sources are: The atimlte deposits, mainly in the mountains moun-tains uf L'tah; tlie feklspatbiu rocks of r he eastern part of 1 he United States, n ! the mud of Starles lake, in California. Califor-nia. The production of potash from feldspar feld-spar is (.oiumei'cially feasible if a salable I'v-produet can be secured at the same ' nne. I hit the development of Seartes lwe as a source of potash presents a number of unsolved technical problems. In addition, the question of title to the property N so involved that considerable consider-able time will elapse be Tore it can be seitled. In the meantime nothing can be done. Ahmite, which exists in considerable quantities in Utah and neighboring" states, contains about 11 per cent potash. pot-ash. It Is decomposed by roasting at a t empera t ure of about 700 degrees, with I be evolution of oxides of sulphur, and a residue consisting of alumina and potassium po-tassium sulphate remains. From this residue res-idue the potash salt can be obtained readily by leaching and evaporation. The process is simple. The fumes liberated can he used to manufacture sulphuric acid. Alumina resulting as a by-product will be suitable for the manufacture of metallic aluminum. One large company has begun the manufacture of potash from alunlte and is reported to have made somp preliminary shipments. It is understood un-derstood tha t another large concern is about to begin the erection of the necessary neces-sary plant for the production of potash from alunite. Has Other Uses. Thiee large concerns have begun opera-lions opera-lions for the manufacture of potash from kelp. While potash is indispensable in i he preparation of fertilizers, it also Is used for many other purposes, including the manufacture of matches, glass, liquid ?nap and munitions. The prices offered under existing conditions by the manufae-I manufae-I in ers of such a r tides undoubtedly will cause practically the entire output to be diverted from the fertilizer industry. Tt teems unlikely that normal conditions will be restored in the immediate futuie, and thai potash can be obtained from foreign for-eign sources as heretofore in time for the next crop-planting season. It also seems i mprobahle that pri va (e enterprise will provide potash from domestic do-mestic sources for agricultural purposes in time. Tt will require ninety or more plants, costing approximately $.".0,000 each and having an operating capital of about $:.i.0X each, to produce the quantity of poiush needed for agriculture. This would involve tho assumption that the commercial commer-cial phases of the problem were satisfactorily satisfac-torily solved. Even if the requisite funds n ere a a liable, it Is a question whether operations could begin in time to provide an adequate supply for the corning year. Acid phosphate is the basis of ncariv all i ommercial mixed fertilisers. It is made hv the action of sulphuric add upon phosphate phos-phate rock. A va ilable sources of phosphate phos-phate rock in the United States are greater great-er than those of any other nation." The main supplv for domestic consumption and for ex porta t ion comes from Tennessee. Tennes-see. South Ca rolina. a nd Florida. The United States government, however, owns vast deposits of phosphate rock in Utah, Wyoming. Montana and neighboring stares. These deposits have been withdraw with-draw n from private use pending legislation legisla-tion for their utilization, and no supply has yet been developed from this source. The rock in Its natural state Is not readily read-ily absorhed as a plant food. It Is made available for this purpose by treatment with sulphuric acid. The bull; of the sulphuric arid which enters Into the manufacture of acid phosphate phos-phate is made by the fertilizing com? nanies. Fraotically every fert direr establishment, es-tablishment, with the exception of the cottonseed meal factories, having an annual an-nual capacity of l.vonn tons or more, operates op-erates also a sulrduiric acid plant. The demand for acid is so strong nt present ihat eeiy effort is being made to utilize oil and abandoned establishments and to creel new plants. Potential Sources. The potential sources of sulphuric acid in the United States are ample to produce pro-duce more than double the annua! output. out-put. Few of the lead, zinc or copner smelling companies using sulphide ores have m!p!nirlc acid plants in connection wiih their smelters. The fumes discharged dis-charged into the atmosphere are sufficient suffi-cient lo produce many thousands of tons of sulphuric acid dally. The niirozeu situation is of less pressing press-ing concern, t 'ot ton need meal forms the hulk of the nitrogenous snhs'ances entering enter-ing into commercial fertilisers. The s'ir-plv s'ir-plv of dried Mood and iank?-,'c. al?o sources of nitrogenous material, is dependent de-pendent upon the number of animals slaughtered. It hn.s been shown that there is a large amount of waste loin the fl fisher!? and tish canneries, especially on the Pacific coast and in Alaska, and lids mat rial com Id Pe made into Psh S'T;p which would ha ve H value of a bout S 1 .Jdn.hfii inr fertilizer purpose?. Another enurr of nitrosep is found in qarbf.ne. If the garbage of all ''lik'S having hav-ing a p"pu'niion of ;:i'',oot or more wf re .-n erU'd into par'iatre tanknge. the product prod-uct would be w.tith for fertilizer purposes at least "..,1,0":'. |
