374 REPORT— 1905. 
The Cape farmer obtains a fair supply of guano from the Guano Islands along 
the coast, and if he were to supplement this with ashes of sheep dung, thus 
supplying the necessary potash (guano being principally of a nitrogenous and 
phosphatic nature), he would secure an excellent manure for raising all kinds of 
grain and root crops, especially potatoes. 
For industrial or domestic purposes these ashes may be used for the production 
of potassium carbonate, which can be employed in making soft soap, since fat, 
tallow, and beef suet are also by-products on most farms. 
As potassium carbonate is, so to speak, the starting-point in the production of 
all potash compounds, its uses are many, one being the formation of cyanide of 
potash, employed largely in gold extraction. 
