Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 389 



by being spread thin on the leaves so as to come in contact with the 

 air. After being tlius enriclied by absorbed ammoBia, rain washes 

 the plaster off ancl the roots get it. Carbon may be drank in from 

 the air, but ammonia must get in through a root or not at all. 



The Alkali Eaeth of the Rocky Mountains as a Fektilizek, 

 Judge J. G. Kuapp, Madison, Wis. — During a residence of many 

 months in the central regions of this great continent, I took note of 

 the available mineral and agricultural resources of those territories. 

 Perhaps it is not generall}' known that much of the material com- 

 monly known by travelers as alhali, spread in vast deposits on our 

 western plains, and which the Mexicans call salitra, is a compound 

 salt, of which nitrate of soda is a large constituent ; the other ingre- 

 dients consisting of carbonate and chlorate of soda, with salts of 

 potash. Some difference in composition exists in different localities. 

 Besides the useful arts to which it may be applied, salitra supplies 

 the place of salt to the cattle and sheep ; and though poisonous to 

 vegetation where it exists in excess, yet in smaller quantities, but 

 sufficient to be plainly visible by its inflorescence, it is a valuable 

 manure, especially for wheat, beets, and onions, and causes New 

 Mexico to produce such line grapes, peaches, and quinces as can be 

 found in no country where this salt does not exist. The apple tree 

 and cotton-Avood, and some other forest trees, are benefited by its 

 presence. There are places, particularly in New Mexico, where it 

 might be gathered in almost inexhaustible quantities. Would not it 

 make a valuable dressing^for vines, quinces, peaches, and other crops, 

 and thus pay for collection and transportation ? Where I have seen. 

 it there are no "large accumulations of decaying organic matter" to 

 furnish the nitrogen for the formation of salt, and, therefore, I am of 

 opinion that the nitrogen is derived either from the atmosphere, 

 during the hot, dry seasons, or from the ground through some, to 

 me, unknown volcanic action ; as all the hot springs yield some of 

 the combinations of this alkaline earth. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — The Club has long thought that the deposits on 

 the alkali flats of the wide central plateau of this continent, though 

 now condemning those surfaces to sterility, might prove a valuable 

 manure on lands where potash and soda are not abundant. They 

 would suggest to some readers of these reports, who live near those 

 regions, to forward a barrel of alkaline earth to the American Insti- 

 tute of New York city, to be used experimentally as a manure. 



