Ctte  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
775 
Any  car  can  run  a  hundred 
miles  or  so  without  trouble. 
Any  car  can  go  that  far  with¬ 
out  readjustment  of  its  mech¬ 
anism.  Almost  any  car  can  go 
short  distances  under  favorable 
conditions  and  make  a  satis¬ 
factory  showing  on  gasoline  and 
oil  consumption. 
When  the  Maxwell  became 
the  World’s  Champion  Endur¬ 
ance  Car  by  traveling  continu¬ 
ously  for  44  days  and  nights 
(covering  22,023  miles)  it  aver¬ 
aged  almost  22  miles  to  every 
gallon  of  gasoline.  It  went  the 
whole  distance  without  repairs 
of  any  kind  and  the  tires  showed 
a  record  of  more  than  9,000 
miles  each. 
But  you  want  to  know  that 
your  car  can  be  relied  upon 
day  in  and  day  out.  You  want 
high  mileage  per  gallon  of  gaso¬ 
line  and  per  set  of  tires.  You 
want  freedom  from  repairs;  and 
you  want  all  of  these  things,  not 
occasionally,  but  continuously 
—day  after  day;  season  after 
season. 
This  great  distance  is  prob¬ 
ably  farther  than  you  would 
drive  in  two  or  three  years. 
And  it  is  a  guide  to  what  you 
could  expect  from  the  Maxwell 
in  the  way  of  economical  and 
consistent  service. 
am 
urance 
MOTOR  COMPANY,  DETROIT,  MICHIGAN 
W rite  to  Dept.  25  for  our  catalog  giving  detailed  specifications  and  our  booklet 
“22,000  Miles  Without  Stopping.” 
American  Potash  Once  More 
We  have  had  nore  or  less  to  say  about 
the  possibility  of  obtaining  potash  from 
the  seaweed  or  kelp  found  in  such  large 
quantities  on  the  Pacific  coast.  It  seems 
that  some  of  the  larger  private  corpora¬ 
tions  have  already  started  experiments 
for  obtaining  this  potash.  Two  of  the 
large  powder  companies  have  located  in 
Southern  California,  and  we  read  how 
one  of  them  has  started  work  with  a 
kelp  cutter.  This  is  a  flat-bottomed  boat 
with  a  long  knife  in  front,  operated  much 
like  a  mowing  machine.  This  works 
down  at  a  depth  of  six  feet  under  water. 
It  cuts  off  the  kelp  and  then  raises  it 
up  by  a  device  much  like  that  of  a  hay 
loader,  where  it  is  dumped  upon  scows 
'  or  barges  which  float  alongside  the  cut¬ 
ter.  Then  this  kelp  is  carried  ashore, 
dried,  and  chopped  up  so  that  the  potash 
may  be  extracted.  This  cutter  carries 
two  engines,  which  can  generate  over  200 
horsepower.  There  are  millions  of  tons 
of  potash  in  this  seaweed  or  kelp,  and 
if  a  process  can  be  devised  for  extract¬ 
ing  it  at  a  reasonable  figure  the  business 
will  surely  he  developed.  Just  now  there 
is  a  great  demaud  for  potash  in  making 
explosives.  Almost  any  process,  how¬ 
ever  costly,  is  worth  trying.  The  only 
question  is  whether  the  cost  of  getting 
the  potash  out  of  this  kelp  will  not  be 
too  heavy  when,  after  the  war,  the  Ger¬ 
man  potash  is  again  imported.  It  seems 
probable  that  on  the  Pacific  coast  at  least 
this  ocean  potash  has  come  to  stay. 
The  last  report  of  the  V.  S.  Geological 
Survey  states  that  in  1915  $242,000 
worth  of  potash  salts  were  produced  in 
this  country.  This  of  course  is  only  a 
drop  in  the  bucket  but  marks  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  a  new  industry,  as  the  annual 
imports  of  potash  run  high  into  the  mil¬ 
lions.  The  American  potash  was  made 
from  various  sources.  At  Riverside.  Gal., 
some  potash  is  obtained  as  a  by-product 
in  the  manufacture  of  cement.  In  T'rab 
a  deposit  of  alumite  has  been  found.  This 
contains  potash,  and  last  year  a  quantity 
of  this  material  was  put  upon  the  mar¬ 
ket.  The  production  thus  far  has  not 
been  large,  but  this  is  the  first  time  that 
it  has  been  used  for  the  purpose.  In 
Nebraska  a  company  has  been  formed  for 
obtaining  potash  from  the  brine  of  an 
alkaline  lake,  and  a  small  quantity  was 
obtained  last  year.  At  Searles  Lake  and 
Keeler,  in  California,  work  has  boon  com¬ 
menced  and  some  potash  has  been  ob¬ 
tained. 
It  is  also  said  that  a  plant  is  being 
built  near  the  Great  Salt  Lake  to  evapor¬ 
ate  the  waters  and  separate  potash  from 
the  other  salts.  Other  niamifaetur-  rs  of 
Portland  cement  are  studying  the  dispo¬ 
sition  of  their  by-product:  such  a  plant 
being  now  under  construction  in  Mary¬ 
land.  There  is  also  great  activity  in  ex¬ 
perimenting  with  granite  or  feldspar 
rock.  A  number  of  methods  for  separ¬ 
ating  the  potash  have  been  devised  but 
most  of  them  have  thus  far  proved  too 
expensive  for  practical  use. 
As  stated  above,  several  private  cor¬ 
porations  are  working  over  the  seaweed 
and  kelp  on  the  Pacific  coast,  so  that  on 
the  whole  it  has  been  a  bus,,  year  in 
American  potash.  We  have  not  made 
great  progress  yet,  but  there  has  been  at 
least  a  start. 
Consistency 
A  Friend  of  Small  Snakes 
An  item  in  one  of  your  issues  of  July 
last  has  been  rankling  in  my  mind  for 
a  good  while,  because  it  illustrates  the 
usual  human  attitude  towards  snakes. 
I  think  the  farmer  should  take  enough 
interest,  in  the  wild  life  arouml  him  to 
get  acquainted  with  it.  so  that  lie  would 
know  one  kind  from  another,  and  while 
one  would  hardly  like  to  undertake  a  de¬ 
fense  of  big  snakes  that  eat  birds,  yet  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  little  brown 
snake  which  only  grows  12  to  14  inches 
long,  the  green  snake,  which  does  nor  ex¬ 
ceed  that  size  very  much,  and  the  ribbon 
snake,  which  grows  to  about  two  feet,  are 
all  of  them  practically  exclusively  in¬ 
sect  eaters,  and  a  farm  well  populated 
}vith  them  would  make  a  lot  of  saving  in 
insect  depredations.  Of  course  I  am 
aware  that,  if  the  farm  were  over  run 
with  chickens  the  snakes  would  have  a 
poor  chance,  but  some  of  them  would 
probably  escape  and  would  be  verv 
useful. 
I  do  not  suppose  I  shall  have  any 
backers  in  this  stand  with  regard  to  these 
animals,  but  I  think  any  person  who 
undertakes  to  argue  on  the  other  side 
has  a  very  difficult  task  before  him. 
Ontario.  w.  E.  sauxdekS. 
WHEN  you  invest  sev¬ 
eral  hundred  dollars  in 
a  motor  car,  you  should 
feel  assured  on  one  important 
point.  And  that  is  whether  or 
not  you  can  expect  consistency 
in  performance. 
While  there  may  be  other 
cars  of  higher  price  that  will 
serve  you  faithfully  and  con¬ 
sistently,  you  know  that  the 
Maxwe’l  will.  You  have  the 
proof — the  verified  facts  and 
figures.  And  these  facts  are 
worth  more  to  you  than  any¬ 
one’s  claims  or  promises. 
