2 BULLETIN 2, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 
distillation has been studied in the experimental laboratories of 
Mr. John W. Hornsey, consulting engineer, 49 Wall Street, New 
York, with a view to the possible employment of such a process for 
the extraction of potash and useful by-products; x the writer, 2 in col- 
laboration with W. C. Phalen, of the United States Geological Sur- 
vey, and W. H. Ross, A. R. Merz, R. F. Gardener, and J. A. Cullen, 
of this bureau, has studied the composition of the salines, brines, 
and mother liquors from the principal salt-producing areas of the 
United States, of natural subterranean brines from various salt wells 
and oil and gas wells of the various sections' of the country explored 
and prospected for the latter two, of brines and salt crusts from 
desert sinks or playas, and of mother liquors from certain solar 
refineries of ocean brine on the Pacific coast, with a view to their 
potash content and their utilization as a source of potassium salts; 
Free 3 has investigated certain desert areas where nitrates have been 
found; Waggaman has studied the peat beds of Florida, regarded 
as a possible source of combined nitrogen and of value as a filler for 
manufactured fertilizers, and has reported 4 on the production of 
ammonium sulphate. 
Nitrogenous compounds, of fertilizer interest, to a greater extent 
than those of phosphorus and potassium, are of artificial derivation, 
though they likewise are obtained in natural deposits. The investi- 
gation has had to do further with the examination of those operations 
and processes which lead to the production of such nitrogenous com- 
pounds, generally as by-products, as may be used in the preparation 
of fertilizers. 
The information sought in the present study has been in part 
statistical, to determine the history of the industry in terms of 
equipment and output, and its present and proposed development. 
In addition, information has been sought regarding the particulars in 
which the processes now in vogue could be improved, the means 
whereby the industry could be put on a more secure economic basis, 
and its possibilities for enlargement. The Department of Agricul- 
ture has been organized primarily to effect the advancement of the 
agricultural interests of the Nation, and it is believed that in ad- 
vancing the interests of the manufacturers of fertilizers and in help- 
ing them to increase their output and to reduce the cost of manu- 
facture, the interests of the farmers are enhanced. In other words, 
the interests of the manufacturer and of the purchaser of fertilizer 
1 Turrentine, Proc. 8th Internal. Cong. Appl. Chem., 1912, vol. 15, p. 313. 
2 Composition of the Salines of the United States, J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 4, 828; ibid., 4, 
885 (1912) ; ibid., 5, 19 (1913) ; Bui. No. 94, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. Agr. (1913) ; 
Proc. 8th Internat. Cong. Appl. Chem., 1912, vol. 15, p. 319. 
8 Circ. No. 62, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. Agr. 
* Sen. Doc. 190, Appen. E, p. 119. 
