POTASH SALTS. 115 



fifty-three per cent of pure potash, and the latter is 



rated at five and one half cents per pound, making 



the ton worth from $38.50 to $58.30. A 



of Potash, liigli-grade article containing fully fifty 

 per cent potash usually can be had for 

 about fifty eight or sixty dollars, and it is a superior 

 and safe form of this element of plant food. 



We also have the double sulphates of potash and 

 magnesia, in which the potash is also rated at five 

 and one half cents per pound. An average sample 

 contains about twenty-six per cent potash; hence 

 it is worth about thirty dollars per ton. 



Kainit, although decidedly a low-grade article, is 

 nevertheless a most important form of potash ill 

 many respects. Its potash, of which there is only 

 twelve or thirteen per cent, appears partly 

 as sulphate, and partly as muriate. Kainit 

 also contains common salt, gypsum, chloride of mag- 

 nesium, etc. Its potash is rated at four and one half 

 cents per pound, and the value of kainit per ton 

 should consequently be placed somewhere near 

 eleven dollars. At the mines in Leopoldshall it can 

 be bought for about four or five dollars per ton, and 

 the ocean freight is usually very low, so at the 

 seaports we ought to be able to buy it at eight or 

 ten dollars per ton when buying it by the cargo. 



This salt has the power to "fix" ammonia in a 

 most remarkable degree. So it not only gives us 

 our money's worth of potash, but at the same time 

 performs the functions of plaster applications, in 

 saving the slippery carbonate of ammonia, or per- 

 haps even drawing it from the air, for the use of 

 our crops. 



Prof. C. A. Goessmann, director of the Massachu- 

 setts State Agricultural Experiment Station, an 



