12 BULLETIN 798, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Arkansas more than seven-eighths of the cottonseed meal was so 
used. On the other hand, in the Eastern States a greater proportion 
was used for fertilizer. The highest proportion used for that pur- 
pose was 79.3 per cent in North Carolina, with South Carolina only 
slightly below that percentage, 76.9 per cent. In Georgia about one- 
half of the cottonseed meal was used for fertilizer and in Alabama 40 
per cent. These are the States that depend on the liberal use of fer- 
tilizer for the continuation of their chief industry, which is cotton 
growing. ‘The farmers in these States find it good economy to return 
the cottonseed meal to the soil so as to enable it to produce the maxi- 
mum amount of new cotton plants. Itis a characteristic of the cot- 
ton plant that comparatively little plant food is removed from the 
soil provided the seed is returned to the ground. 
POTASH-BEARING MATERIALS. 
A special schedule was sent to all the producers of potash. The 
returns on-this schedule refer to the years 1917 and 1918. The1918 
returns are based on actual operations for the first nine months and 
on estimates for the remaining three months. Table IX shows the 
quantity of potash produced from each of the principal sources and 
the proportion derived from each source. 
TaBLE IX.—Potash produced from the different sources during 1917 and 1918. 
| Quantity of K.O | Percentage of total 
produced (2,000- K,O produced 
pound tons). from each source. 
Source. 
1917 | 1918 
| 
Totalifromallsources 22: 2. se ok ae een ees | 32,258 | 53, 538 
Mineral sources: 
Totabic. seats Satoh eh SES ARES asso es ese 25, 450 43, 820 
pines! 20. SA BOC Seed SF ee See OWE 21,445 | 38,658 
Flue dust from. blast furnaces =.-.<< 5-22 si<s-n ees ee 245 3 
Cement dust 22... 9.283222 5S Eb A Se Se SEE 1, 454 
PATINVEG ORS ok oe 08 ae eS op ae ee eS te 2, 306 
Slate S57 Be Oe ec Sass ed Bd RE se a a ee 
Greensand = bk os aie oe, eae eee ee ool eee eee 
Organic sources: 
Obal: 2955 32.36 o2 ssasccae-t ate eae ve eiamaaae dts eee ee cee 6, 808 
Kelp s.¢..655.: eee a. SRE os 2 a a ee eee 3, 372 
Tobacco waste -t 13% s4)> 3:5 PRS. = ee eee oe Be ees A 
Beet-sugar factory. waste:..4 -2s8. 225 eee 1, 134 
Wood ashes: . .t& 3 =.. e a5. ee 8 Sw Be ee 296 
The total potash produced during 1918, as reported to this office, 
including estimates for the last three months, was 53,500 tons, a fig- 
ure which exceeds by about 1,400 tons the more recent estimates 
made by the Geological Survey. This difference is probably due in 
part to the fact that actual production during October, November, 
and December, 1918, was not as great as had been expected by the 
producers. The returns, moreover, fail to include potash extracted 
