334 AN IRRIGATION SETTLEMENT. 



trial training. In our school system room will ha\ e to be fomid 

 for institutions of that nature. 



In order to safeguard our settlers from the speculator, we 

 started our own shops, of which we have five, with a working 

 capital of about £15,000. These shops act as a sort of exchange, 

 as payment of the rent is accepted in the way of produce. 



In dealing with poor whitism or any problem of that nature. 

 the chief desideratum in those who seek its .solution is. faith in 

 the salvability of every human being. It is only when we start 

 from this point that we can inspire confidence and self-respect 

 and hope into the man who has lost all. 



Effects of Lime on Insoluble Soil Potash.— 



Messrs. L. J. Briggs and J. F. Breazeale give an account in the 

 Jounial of A(/ricultitral Research^ of experiments with ortho- 

 clase and pegmatite, and also with soils of granite type, in all of 

 which they failed to detect any increase in the solubility of the 

 potassium on treatment with various proportions of calcium 

 hydroxide or sulphate. In some cases the ])resence of calcium 

 sulphate in solution actually depressed the solubility of the 

 potassium, proportionately to increase of the concentration of 

 the calcium sulphate. Similar results were arrived at by deter- 

 mining the amounts of potash taken up by wheat seedlings 

 grown in the respective solutions. The availability to i)lants of 

 the potash in soils derived from orthoclase-bearing rocks is 

 therefore not likel\' to be increased by the application of lime 

 or gypsum. 



Potash from Banana Stalks.— New or dor- 

 mant sources of potash continue to be investigated from time to 

 time. In the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chcynistrxi 

 H. E. Billings and A. W. Christie record exjierimental work 

 recently carried out by them for estimating the ix)ssibilities <>f 

 recovering ]x7tash from the thousands of banana stalks weekl\- 

 cast away as refuse in every large .American citv. Thev found 

 the dried banana stalks to contain as much ])ota>li as Kainit, and 

 to compare favoura])ly with dried kclj) as a tiller for commercial 

 fertilisers. When charred and leached. (Mie ton of the fresh 

 stalks yields 2y lbs. of water .soluble salts, containing 90 per cent, 

 of potassium carbonate. The cho])ped-up stalks mav be heated 

 on a grating in a tall cylindrical heater, at the tt)p of which it is 

 constantly fed in. while the ash is drawn off below, extracted 

 with water and the resulting li(|Uor evaporated. This method 

 of recovery lends itself readily to small scale manufacture. 



*8 fi] (TQ17). 



19 (lU'D l-'|. i.^.V4. 



