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Show : II . i Pot Ashes. A century ago two very common items near the head of lists of coiTmicrcial com- i modi ties -were "pot ashes" and "pearl ashes." Pitkin's "Statistical View" tells ns that in 1770 all the British-American colonies exported " to Great Britain 1173 j tons ot" "pot ashes" and 7-T7 ton? of ( "pearl do." In 1S16 the United States . exported, mostly to Great Kritain. $1,-63n,000 $1,-63n,000 worth of "pot and poarl nshes." Tt seems to be merely an Accident that the word "potash" suggests a derivation from tha word "potassium." The ashes of almost any vegetable substance wock! was the most abundant, but some small plants' are much richer in chemical potash pot-ash were leached with water; the water was evaporated in Iron pots, and hence the solid matter remaining', waa called "pot ashes." After a process of refining refin-ing this solid matter took on a pearly white color, for which reason it was called "pearl ashes." In an effort to develop the potash industry, in-dustry, essential to many industries aud important to agriculture, the society in London instituted for the encouragement , of arts, manufactures and commerce of- , fered premiums in 1761 to those who j should import from the American colonies, col-onies, where wood was too abundant for 1 the convenience of the colonists. the : greatest quantity of pot and pearl ashes. I These reminiscences of a primitive I chemical industry are recalled by a re- j port of the geological survey on the ef- ; forts to discover potash In this country . since the German potash mines became j iiiaccessi-ble to us. "The production, f while still small, lias, expanded greatly since the need arose. The largest output, out-put, comes from the Nebraska alkali lakes, but saline deposits elsewhere are beginning to make important contributions. contribu-tions. "A great deal of publicity." the report says, "has attended the efforts to obtain potash from kelp, but a similar organic source of high-grade potash sai ts has been quietly developed which hns proved more productive." The re- port does not disclose what this other source is, but one establishment working it produced more potash than all the klp plants. The stirvpy esf imates the potash production pro-duction of Ulfi as 10.000 tons, worth $.,- i 500,000. Of SS30 tons specifically report- j ed on. 5750 tons were produced from mineral min-eral and 30S0 tons from organic sources. I Kelp yielded 1110 tons, pearlash 220 tons ! and "miscellaneous industrial wastes" j 1 T.'O tons. ' The aggregate does not go far to meet our needs, but for some industrial pur- i poses soda can be substituted for potash. and the survey expects the production of the latter In 117 to be far in excess of the output of last year. We fnay yet become be-come independent in the production of potash. Philadelphia Record. |