134 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1414 



dark color aud a strong odor, both of which are 

 desirable properties for a fertilizer. The author 

 ia confident that this heretofore unused large 

 store of fertilizer material can be made available 

 to the fertilizer manufacturers and to the farmer 

 and the damage and expense occasioned by the 

 present practice of draining these wastes into the 

 waters of the country can be greatly diminished. 



The recovery of potash as a l>y-produet in the 

 Mast furnace industry: Wm. H. Eoss and Albert 

 E. Merz. The weighted average of the potash in 

 the ores, coke and limestone used in the blast 

 furnace industry amounts to approximately 0.2 

 per cent, for each material, which is less than 

 one third as great as that found for the raw mix 

 used in the cement industry. In the case of the 

 ores, the potash ranges from 0.05 per cent, for 

 Mesaba ores to over 2 per cent, for certain for- 

 eign ores. As the consumption of high potash ores 

 is relatively small as compared with low potash 

 ores, the weighted average of the potash in the 

 ores consumed is less than the mean average 

 found for different ore samples. On the basis 

 of the weighted average the total potash in the 

 ore, coke and limestone used in blast furnaces 

 amounts, respectively, to 7.6, 1.8 and 4.5 lbs. per 

 ton of pig iron, or to a total of 13.9 lbs. The 

 potash in the slag amounts to 8.5 lbs., which 

 leaves a balance for the potash volatilized of 5.4 

 lbs. per ton of pig iron. This amounts to a total 

 for all plants of about 100,000 tons of potash as 

 compared with 87,000 tons for the cement indus- 

 try. 



A historical review of the research showing the 

 fertilizer value of sulphur: L. S. Btjshnell. The 

 writer proves the error of the last two of the 

 following statements of Conn in "Agricultural 

 Bacteriology": "In general, much less is 

 known about the transformations of sulphur than 

 of those of nitrogen. The reason for this is that 

 sulphur is almost never deficient in soils, and the 

 subject has never been considered of sufficient 

 practical importance to justify extensive investi- 

 gation." Eesults of research work conducted by 

 various state experiment stations are cited where 

 increase in yields from 50 to 1,000 per cent, were 

 obtained when sulphur was used with alfalfa and 

 other leguminous plants. It is shown that there 

 is a decided loss of sulphur in soils cultivated for 

 a number of years when compared with the cor- 

 responding virgin soils, and that the value of 

 ammonium sulphate and acid phosphate as fertili- 

 zers is sometimes due to the sulphur and not to 

 nitrogen or phosphorus. Attention is called to 



the faulty interpretation by others of Wolff's 

 analyses of the ash of plants. Since large quan- 

 tities of sulphur are lost by volatilization, the 

 sulphur found in the ash is sometimes as little as 

 one half per cent of the amount the plant con- 

 tains. 



Studies of the availaiility of organic nitrogen- 

 ous compounds: C. S. Eobinson. Various types 

 of organic nitrogenous compounds containing 

 definite atomic groupings were treated with alka- 

 line permanganate solution according to the offi- 

 cial method. The same thing was done with 

 proteins and some organic base goods which were 

 also analyzed by Van Slyke's method. Informa- 

 tion was thus obtained as to specific groups 

 ammonified by the permanganate method. 



The preparation and composition of neutral 

 ammoniun citrate solutions: C. S. Eobinson. 

 The work was divided into three parts as follows: 

 (1) The preparation of solutions having definite 

 compositions or reactions; (2) The relation be- 

 tween composition and reaction; (3) The relation 

 between the reaction of the solution and its 

 solvent action on calcium phosphate. It is shown 

 that it is difficult to prepare a strictly neutral 

 solution of ammoniun citrate with the usual indi- 

 cators as ordinarily used. Physical chemical 

 methods give accurate results but are not suitable 

 for routine use. Analytical methods can be used 

 to prepare any solution whose composition is fixed. 

 The so-called eolorimetric method using phenol 

 red as the indicator is convenient and accurate. 

 With citrate solutions ranging in reaction from 

 pH 6.6 to 7.8 the magnitude of the variations in 

 analytical results is usually small. 



The potash situation: H. A. Huston. The 

 potash situation was discussed from the stand- 

 point of the relative quantities of soluble potash 

 salts estimated by geologists to exist in the 

 United States, France and Germany and develop- 

 ment of these resources in the different countries. 

 The geologists estimate that for each ton of 

 soluble potash salts in the United States there are 

 10 tons in France and 6,000 tons in Germany. 

 The estimated productive capacity of the existing 

 potash properties in terms of actual potash is 

 80,000 tons for the United States, 250,000 tons 

 for France and 3,850,000 tons for Germany. 

 France has 13 completed shafts and 3 mills; Ger- 

 many has 204 completed shafts and 17 mills. The 

 ore suitable for producing sulfate of potash is not 

 found in France. 



Charles L. Parsons, 



Secretary 



