518 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.41 



quality for fuel. The largest and best peat deposits, for fuel especially, are all 

 In the northern part of the State. 



Peat, P. GuiEU {La Toiirbe. Paris: Libr. Gamier Freres, 1918, pp. TII+219, 

 figs. 55). — This book deals with the origin and composition of peat and with 

 methods of securing it commercially and its commercial treatment and utiliza- 

 tion. Special chapters deal with the uses of peat as fuel and in agriculture. 

 In the former use peat is burned directly or utilized for gas production. The 

 section on the agricultural use of peat discusses its use as litter and as a fertili- 

 zer filler and also as a material used in the manufacture of nitrates. 



A reconnaissance of the Uinta Mountains, Utah, with reference to phos- 

 phate, A. R. ScHULTz (Amer. Fert., 51 (1919), No. 5, pp. 64-67, 96, 98, 102, 104, 

 108, 110, 114, 116, 118, 120, 122, 125, fig. i).— This report deals with the geology 

 and mineralogy of an area of approximately G,000 square miles in northern Utah, 

 with special reference to the quantity and quality of phosphate present. 



" Throughout the Uinta Mountain uplift the entire phosphatic series, which 

 constitutes only a part of the Park City formation, is approximately 35 ft. thick 

 and varies from place to place. In this formation there is a single phosphatic 

 zone in which the beds of phosphate, thick and thin, rich and lean, occur. Some 

 of the beds several inches in thickness consist almost entirely of phosphatic 

 material ; others are composed chiefly of chert nodules and lenses with a little 

 phosphate material. The thicker beds consist of cherty limestone, shale, sand- 

 stone, and phosphate beds from 1 to 6 ft. in thickness. Individual layers or 

 beds in this series contain more or less phosphatic salts ranging from 1 to 70 

 per cent tricalcium phosphate, the maximum being equivalent to 32 per cent 

 phosphoric acid." 



The fertilizing action of bone meal phosphate, C. Beger (Landiv. Vers. 

 Stat., 88 (1916), No. 3-4, pp. 291-304). — Pot culture experiments with mustard 

 to compare three different types of bone meal, containing respectively 32.1, 

 23.3, and 21.3 per cent phosphoric acid, with Thomas slag meal and dicalcium 

 phosphate are reported. 



The Thomas meal gave the best results, followed in order by the dicalcium 

 phosphate and the bone meals. The bone meals acted much more slowly than 

 the Thomas meal or the dicalcium phosphate, but gave better relative results 

 in larger additions. The results with the bone meals were so near to those 

 with the other phosphates that it is thought that where necessary they will make 

 suitable substitutes. 



Our natural resources of potash, F. W. Brown (Mining and Sci. Press, 111 

 (1918), No. 23, pp. 759-762).— The author reviews the potash resources of this 

 country, including by-products of cement manufacture and of blast furnaces, 

 wool and wood wastes, alunite, lake brines, and kelp. The Pacific coast kelps 

 are considered the most hopeful source of potash at present. 



The nature of the recombined potash in cement mill dust, A. R. Merz and 

 W. H. Ross {Jour. Indus, and Engin. Chein., 11 (1919), No. 1, pp. 39-45).— 

 Studies at different cement mills are reported. 



It was found that " the water soluble potash in cement dust owes its source 



(1) to the volatilization of potash in the burning of the cement, (2) to the 

 decomposition of potash silicates of the raw mix carried over mechanically in 

 the dust, and (3) in the case of coal-fired kilns, to the ash of the coal which 

 may yield up a portion of its potash through the action of the liuie in the dust. 

 The first-mentioned source is ordinarily much the most important. The water- 

 insoluble but acid-soluble potash of cement dust is due (1) to a recombination 

 of a portion of the volatilized potash with the ash of the coal used for fuel, 



(2) to a recombination to a much smaller extent, and only under certain 



