Photos by Allerton S. Cushman 



THE EFFECTIVENESS OE GROUND EElyDSPAR AS A POTASH FERTILIZER 



Comparison of tobacco seedlings, six weeks old, grown in sand mixed with ground 

 feldspar, but containing no other potash (shown in upper photograph), with plants of same 

 age grown in rich garden soil, which contains an adequate supply of soluble potash (shown 

 in lower photograph). Dr. Cushman emphasizes the fact that this experiment was under 

 most favorable green-house conditions and is not to be taken as applicable to field practice. 

 The showing is, however, significant. 



and thus forestall the possibility of an 

 American potash monopoly. 



While the outlook for the early de- 

 velopment of an American potash sup- 

 ply, and consequent relief for the farm- 

 ers, is, on the whole, most promising, it 

 is to be regretted that Congress did not 

 provide for more extensive work by the 

 Government. A $200,000 appropriation 

 would have enabled the Geological Sur- 

 vey, for instance, to distribute ten or a 

 dozen parties with deep-drilling outfits 



over the western country and to find the 

 nitrate and the potash beds at once, 

 rather than to spread the effort over a 

 period of years, and finally make the dis- 

 covery after we have sent a quarter or a 

 half a billion dollars to Germany and 

 Chile. Nor would $50,000 have been 

 too much to give the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture for exhaustive chemical investi- 

 gations in potash and to continue and 

 expand the promising experiments al- 

 ready begun by his department. 



