FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
165 
the growers paid into the State during 
this same period an inspection tax, in the 
form of stamps, to the amount of $80,- 
203.00. 
In accordance with the demands of 
modern agriculture, fertilizers—other 
than the home supplies of farm manure, 
crop residues and legume cultivation— 
are manufactured from nitrate soda, sul¬ 
phate ammonia, cyanamid (atmospheric 
nitrogen), dried blood, blood and bone, 
tankage, dried meat, goat manure, wool 
waste, hair, leather, bird guano, ground 
fish, acidulated fish, linseed meal, cotton 
seed meal, raw bone meal, steamed bone 
flour, hoof meal, castor pomace, bone 
black, ground tobacco stems, acid phos¬ 
phate, sulphate potash—known as high- 
grade sulphate and double manure salts— 
nitrate potash, muriate potash, sylvinite 
and kainit. These, and other materials, 
whose names are almost legion, form the 
raw materials flowing in a never-ending 
stream to the modern fertilizer factory, 
emerging finally in the many brands of 
scientifically compounded “fertilizers” pre¬ 
pared for use on every kind of crop 
known to modern agriculture, and suited 
to the needs of every class of soil. 
In normal times the one source of pot¬ 
ash that stands out above all others is 
the inexhaustible deposits of potash salts 
in North Germany, which practically com¬ 
pletely dominates the world’s supply of 
that element. Unfortunately, the present 
situation in Europe has, temporarily at 
least, and possibly for some time to come, 
cut off that supply, and we are face to 
face with a problem in fertilizing that 
may become in the not distant future very 
difficult to solve. Previous to the discov¬ 
ery and mining of the German deposits, 
potash was derived almost entirely from 
wood ashes, with small amounts produced 
by the Scotch “Kelp” industry. These 
sources are still open to a limited extent, 
although quite insufficient to meet the de¬ 
mands of our modern agriculture. Dur¬ 
ing the past few years strenuous efforts 
have been made in this country to locate 
sources of potash similar to the Strass- 
furt beds and otherwise, and development 
has been begun on lake deposits in South¬ 
ern California, and of the “Kelp” off the 
coast of the same State, the promoters of 
which claim them to be sufficient to sup¬ 
ply a considerable amount of the material. 
However, with the probable end of the 
present deadlock in the near future, and 
the immense deposits of the Strassfurt 
mines again a producing factor, it does 
not seem likely that capital will be keen 
on rushing in to fill a gap from sources 
of doubtful practicability financially, and 
run the risk of being unable to meet for¬ 
eign competition at the close of the war. 
Such being the case, it is up to the grower 
to make the best use of the potash sup¬ 
plies already locked up in the soil. As 
long as the supply of his local fertilizer 
manufacturer holds out, he is probably in 
no serious need, but it is now even more 
essential than ever to maintain the am¬ 
monia and phosphoric acid in the soil, 
thereby aiding nature in her efforts to 
make available for plant use the other¬ 
wise unavailable stores of potash, and 
those who are fortunate enough to be able 
to secure hardwood ashes and tobacco 
