524 EXPEEIMENT STATION EECOED. 



portion which is sohible in water, this portion showing an availability of from 

 63 to 74 per cent of that of nitrate of soda with millet and oats.'' 



Commercial fertilizers, J. S. Bxjrd (California Sta. Bui. 221, pp. 35-97). — 

 The results of analyses and valuations of fertilizers inspected by the California 

 Fertilizer Control during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, are reported in 

 this bulletin with a brief discusssion of the methods, purpose, and practical 

 importance of valuation of fertilizers. Certain modifications of eastern sched- 

 ules of trade values to make them applicable to California conditions are 

 pointed, out. 



The sworn returns of fertilizer dealers indicate that the sales of fertilizer in 

 the State during the year ended June 30, 1911, was 46,000 tons as compared 

 with 36,634 tons the preceding year. 



[Imports of fertilizer raw materials] (Amer. Fcrt., 35 {1911), No. U/, pp. 

 34, 35). — A table is given showing imports into the United States during 1909, 

 1910, and 1911 of various fertilizer materials and by-products of fertilizer 

 factories. 



The Indian saltpeter industry, J. "W. Leather and J. N. Mukerji (Agr. 

 Research Inst. Pusa Bui. 24, pp. 19, pis. 5; ahs. in Oil and Colour Trades Jour., 

 40 {1911), Nos. 688, pp. 2097, 2098, flg. 1; 689, pp. 2174, 2175, fig. 1; 41 (1912), 

 No. 690, pp. 37, 38, flg. 1; Nature [London'], 88 (1912), No. 2201, pp. 330, 331; 

 Internat. Inst. Agr. [Rome], Bill. Bur. Agr. Intel, and Plant Diseases, 3 (1912), 

 No. 1, pp. 86-89). — It is shown that this industry is a very ancient one in India, 

 but apparently the production is slowly declining. The export amounts at the 

 present time to about 200,000 tons of potassium nitrate per annxim. 



The native methods of extraction of the nitrate from soil collected in villages 

 and of refining the crude product are fully described in this article, and possible 

 improvements, especially of the methods of refining, are suggested. The methods 

 now in use are substantially as follows : The village earth, which usually con- 

 tains from about 3 to 5 per cent (sometimes as low as 1 or as high as 29 per 

 cent) of potassium nitrate associated with chlorids and sulphates, is mixed 

 with wood ashes and carefully packed in layers from 6 to 8 in. deep in an 

 earthen chamber called Kuria made of wet mud which is afterwards allowed to 

 dry and harden. " The floor of this slopes somewhat from back to front, where 

 a hole is made at the lowest point for the escape of the nitrate liquor. Raised 

 a few inches above the floor, and supported by a few loose bricks, is a false 

 bottom made of bamboos and matting, on which the saltpeter earth is laid with 

 the greatest care and so trodden in that no crevices shall exist. ... A small 

 piece of matting is then laid on the top, and water is poured in until about 1 in. 

 lies on the surface of the soil." After several hours the percolate '' usually 

 emerges as a fairly concentrated clear solution, colored brown by organic 

 matter. The first runnings are put into a pan and further concentrated by 

 exposure to the sun, or by boiling over a fire until a mixture of sodium chlorid 

 and potassium nitrate, with varying quantities of sodium sulphate and mag- 

 nesium nitrates, separates out. This is sold to the refiner as crude saltpeter. 

 The mother liquor is thrown on to the heap of saltpeter earth, the so-called 

 factory, to which are also added the wet soil from the ' Kuria ' and the weaker 

 solution of nitrates coming out in the later stages of the percolation and 

 requiring too much fuel to make further concentration worth while. After a 

 time the heap can again be extracted, and so the process goes on perpetually. 

 Fresh village earth is constantly being added, but no special additions of 

 organic matter seem to be made. 



"At the refinery the crude saltpeter, the impurities of which are soil, sodium 

 sulphate, sodium chlorid, and magnesium nitrate, is added to a boiling mother 

 liquor from a previous operation. This liquor, being already saturated with 



