314 CHEMICAL MANUEES. 



Potash Salts Dei)osits of Alsace. — Deposits of potash have been 

 discovered in Alsace. They consist chiefly of sylvinite. According 

 to report from the President of the district of Upper Alsace, the 

 deposits of rock salt and of potash occur in the Tertiary. The 

 territory in question extends to about 200 sq. km. (say 125 square 

 miles). It is bounded on the north by the line Eegisheim-Soultz, 

 to the west by the line Soultz Berrweiler-Schweighausen, to the 

 south by the line Schweighausen-Neidermorschweiler-Ile Na- 

 poleon, and to the east by the line He Napoleon-Ensisheim- 

 Esgisheim. The total thickness of the deposit is estimated at 200 

 metres (656 feet), and the beds of potash salt are included therein, 

 fairly regularly. These deposits appear destined to play a part in the 

 German potash industry. 



Manufacture of Potash from Felspar and other Potassic 

 Minerals. — The felspar is finely crushed, beaten up with water, then 

 run into a wooden vat placed in a large receiver of any material. 

 The outside receiver is then filled ; the inside receiver is then con- 

 nected with the positive pole and the outside receiver with the 

 negative pole of an electric current. This partially liberates the 

 potash, the soda and the other soluble bases, freeing them from the 

 compounds which they form with silica. The soluble bases traverse 

 the wooden wall of the interior vessel and pass into the water of the 

 exterior vessel which they render alkaline. However, the felspar 

 soon ceases to decompose. To render the decomposition more rapid 

 and more permanent the mass in the interior vessel is continually 

 stirred or hydrofluoric acid added. To obtain nitrates, sulphates, 

 chlorides, in place of caustic alkali, it suffices to add the corre- 

 sponding acids into the water of the outside receiver. American 

 patent No. 851,922 of 30 April, 1907. 



Manufacture of Potash in the Caucasus, — The manufacture of 

 potash is an accessory industry of the cultivation of sunflower, for 

 the ashes of the stem and the branches of sunflower yield the raw 

 material. The first potash factory was established in 1899 at 

 Maikopp, by Schaponalow. Difficulties occurred at first because 

 experience was awanting. But gradually the conditions of pro- 

 duction improved, and fresh factories were started. According ta 

 the official statistics in 1906, eleven factories produced 475,563 

 poods of potash. According to information supplied by the manu- 

 facturers twenty-four factories were at work in 1907, and some of 

 them produced several thousands and up to 200,000 poods of potash. 

 The total production of these factories was from 700,000 to 900,000 

 poods, representing a value of 22,000,000 roubles. The stems of the 



add 1 cwt. to 2 cwts. of such kainit per ton to all compound manures, that is- 

 when it can be done without lowering the guaranteed percentage of the phos- 

 phoric acid and nitrogen below the minimum guarantee. Potatoes respond in a 

 very remarkable manner to such a manure. — Tr. 



