Fo df ? r Nitrate of Soda is found in vast 



Fo^nd 6 l quantities in Chile. The beds of Ni- 

 trate, or "Caliche," as it is called in 

 Chile before it is refined, are several thousand feet above 

 the sea, on a desert plain extending for seventy-five 

 miles north and south, and about twenty miles wide, 

 in a rainless region. The surface of the desert is covered 

 with earth or rock, called "costra," which varies from 

 three to ten or more feet in thickness. Under this is 

 found the "Caliche," or crude Nitrate. The layer of 

 "Caliche" is sometimes eight or ten feet thick, but 

 averages about three feet. This "Caliche" contains 

 on the average about 50 per cent, of pure Nitrate of 

 Soda. 



There is ample Nitrate now in sight to last, it is 

 calculated, upwards of two hundred years. 



The "Caliche" is refined by boiling in water to 

 dissolve the Nitrate. This hot water is then run off 



Method of and allowed to cool in tanks, when the 

 Refining. Nitrate forms in crystals like common 

 salt. The Nitrate is then placed in bags of a little over 

 two hundred pounds each and shipped to all parts of 

 the world. How these beds of Nitrate were formed has 

 been the subject of much speculation. The generally 

 accepted theory is, that they were formed by the 

 gradual decomposition and natural manurial fermen- 

 tation of marine animal and vegetable matter, which 

 contains a considerable amount of Nitrogen. The pro- 

 cess of refining is an expensive one. 



The same wise Providence that stored up the coal 

 in the mountains of Pennsylvania to furnish fuel for 

 people when their supply of wood had become ex- 

 hausted, preserved this vast quantity of Nitrate of 

 Soda in the rainless region of Chile, to be used to furn- 

 ish crops with the necessary Nitrate when the natural 

 supply in the soil had become deficient. 



The enormous explosive industry of this country 



Its U could not be conducted without Ni- 



trate of Soda, and glass works are de- 

 pendent upon it. In fact, glass works and powder 

 works usually have Nitrate on hand. 



Nitrate of Soda has a special bearing on the prog- 



