in the formula is found in the fertiUzer. To illustrate: a package weigh- 

 ing one hundred pounds, containing 



5 per cent of nitrogen. 



7 per cent of phosphoric acid, 



6 per cent of potash, 



would contain respectively 



5 pounds of nitrogen, 



7 pounds of phosphoric acid, 



6 pounds of potash. 



The market price of nitrogen ranges from 17 cents to 20 cents per 

 pound, phosphoric acid about 6 cents per pound, and potash 5 cents and 

 6 cents under normal conditions. Since the European war began, 

 prices have advanced very materially. Potash has gone from 6 cents 

 to more than 40 cents per pound, due to the fact that Germany has been 

 our chief source of supply. The Stassfurt potash deposits of Germany 

 had their origin thousands of years ago in a salt sea. The receding 

 waters of the sea left a deposit of various salts, potash being the most 

 important as a fertilizer. For a long time more than a million tons of 

 potassium salts produced at the Stassfurt mines have come to the 

 United States annually. Since the supply has been stopped, due to the 

 war, investigators have been busy in attempting to locate that very 

 necessary element in our country, and it is very gratifying to know that 

 recent discoveries will soon relieve the present shortage. 



The Utah Agricultural College Experiment Station in circular No. 22 

 gives the following: 



"Alunite, which is a natural potassium aluminum sulphate, occurs 

 extensively in Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California and Utah. At 

 the present time, the latter deposit seems to be the largest and best. In 

 its natural state, this mineral is insoluble in water, but by gentle heat 

 it is rendered soluble, and, after leaching with water, the solution is 

 evaporated to dryness and ordinary alum is obtained. At higher and 

 long-continued heating, sulphur trioxide is evolved, and lexivigation of 

 the roasted mass then yields a very pure potassium sulphate. The 

 Mineral Products Company, located at Marysvale, Utah, is turning out 

 daily about one hundred tons of potassium sulphate extracted from this 

 source. Efforts are being made to discover a process whereby the po- 

 tassium of leucite may be rendered commercially available. During 

 the last year, the brine of a salt lake in Nebraska has yielded a consider- 

 able amount of potassium salts. Cave deposits have been located in 

 various places in the west, as, for example, those near Pocatello, Idaho, 

 and in Greenwich Canyon, near Koosharem, Utah. In the western part 

 of Millard county, Utah, White Valley, an old alkaline lake bed is lo- 

 cated, and efforts are being made to develop this region as a source of 

 potassium. The old lake bed, the receptacle for untold ages of the 

 washing and leaching from the potash ledges of the mountains nearby, 



