I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 373 



that a given amount of potash, applied in the form of appro- 

 priate mixtures of sulphate, carbonate, silicate, and chloride 

 of potassium, will, generally speaking, do more good than 

 when applied in the form of either one of these compounds. 

 But in wood-ashes we find a mixture of these salts ready at 

 hand ; not the best mixture, perhaps, but one already formed, 

 and in this country at least very easily obtained." Bulletin 

 Bussey Inst.^ I., 127. 



VALUES OF POTASH FERTILIZERS. 



The potassium in the German potash salts occurs either 

 as potassium sulphate, " sulphate of potash," or as potassium 

 chloride, "muriate of potash." It generally comes at a lower 

 price per jjound as chloride than as sulphate. But, as Pro- 

 fessor Goessmann very justly remarks, there are other things 

 besides first cost to be considered in buying these manures. 

 Long experience in Europe has shown that the form in which 

 the potassium is present, as well as the amount and nature 

 of the other compounds that occur in the German salts, con- 

 trols to a great extent their action upon various crops and 

 soils. The sulphate of potash is unanimously approved as 

 the safest potash compound without regard to kind of 

 crop and as far as the quality of some of the industrial 

 products are concerned. It increases the percentage of 

 starch in potatoes, and of sugar in sugar-beets. It coun- 

 teracts best, in common with nitrate of potassa, the tenden- 

 cy of tobacco to char and to smell offensively, thereby render- 

 ing it better adapted to smoking, and increasing its commer- 

 cial value. Upon wet lands alone the sulphate is considered 

 as unprofitable, and the chloride of potassium the safer arti- 

 cle. The chloride of potassium, on the other hand, has not 

 received such general commendation. Its use as a fertilizer 

 for potatoes and tobacco has been decidedly discouraged, for 

 it acts on these crops more in the direction of quantity than 

 quality. It is, however, highly recommended for meadows, 

 for pasture lands, and for all kinds of forage and grain crops, 

 particularly when applied in connection with phosphates. 

 The relative agricultural value of both series of compounds, 

 chlorides and sulphates, is also frequently and in an unusual 

 degree modified by the presence of certain other saline com- 

 pounds, wliich are found associated with them in the mines. 



