a | 
SG Et Oa VI. 
Of the beft Manner of procuring Alkaline Salts. 
1ft, Or THE Metuop oF procurtnc Mrnerat ALKatt. 
MrneRAL ALKALI may be procured more or lefs pure from 
the combuttion of the various fpecies of kali or falfola of Linneus, 
or from that of the different {pecies of falicornia and chenopodia, _ 
-mentioned by the fame author. The compounds thus formed are 
called barilbas or foudes. 
Tue cultivation of the falicornia may be feen in the fifth 
volume of the Memoires des Scavants Etrangers. A French acre 
(1,261 Englifh) produces one tun of this weed; and this tun 
when burned produces but 100 weight of barilha, and this of a 
kind inferior to {weet barilha. A {mall quantity of this alkali 
is alfo contained in kelp. I am inclined to think that much of 
the alkali is loft by its union with the earthy parts during the 
fufion effected in the common manner of fabricating this fub- 
ftance; and therefore the procefs fuggefted by Mr. Caper may 
be ufeful. He advifes a trench two feet deep, feven icet long, 
and eighteen inches broad, to be made, lined with clay mixed 
with fand, and over this iron bars two inches diftant from cach 
other to be laid; upon which a wall 2,5 feet high is to be 
conftructed, of limeftone if poffible; over the bars the dry fea 
weed is to be laid and fet fire to; the afhes will fall into the 
trench, 
