1915. 
'I'M K KUKAL NEW*YORKBK 
19 7 
POTASH FROM THE OCEAN. 
Part II. 
G ROWTH OF KELP.—The variety of 
kelp most useful for fertilizing 
makes an annual growth of about 50 
feet. It is usually found in localities 
where strong tides or heavy surf abounds. 
It is strongly attached to the rocks at 
the bottom of the ocean, and grows up¬ 
ward rapidly through the water. The 
upper part of the kelp terminates in a 
hollow bulb known as tlie pneumatocyst. 
This enables the plant to float, and is 
thus held up into the sunlight. This 
kelp. Nereocystis, is an annual. An¬ 
other type is a perennial and reaches an 
average length of 100 feet. It is some¬ 
what different from the other, in shape 
and appearance, but like it has this 
power of accumulating potash and hold¬ 
ing it in its stem and branches. These 
kelps grow so rapidly that after they 
are cut off below the sui-face they im¬ 
mediately start out and grow again, so 
that after 40 to 60 days they are as 
large as they were before they were cut. 
The quantity of these kelps scattered all 
the way from Alaska down to Lower 
California is almost beyond calculation. 
At one single point near Santa Barbara 
is a grove of about four square miles, 
which would yield 320,000 tons of wet 
kelp at one cutting or 16,000,000 pounds 
of potash from this one bed. In south¬ 
eastern Alaska the Government report 
shows 8,000,000 tons of wet kelp already 
surveyed. Of the total amount of kelp 
surveyed along the coast it is reported 
that 2,880,000 tons are easily available. 
Composition of Kelp. —We have al¬ 
ready seen the average composition of 
the wet kelp as it is taken up from the 
ocean as sold for fertilizing purposes. 
This kelp is dried and chopped fine or 
ground. The average composition of one 
variety of this kelp known as Nereocystis 
when dried is as much as 21.49 per cent. 
The composition of the other variety 
known as Macroeystis, is 13.63 per cent. 
Here is a greater amount than the per¬ 
cent. of potash found in the German 
salt known as kainit. Thus we have in 
these vast deposits of kelp immense 
amounts of potash, and we begin to grasp 
the size of the accumulations of the pot¬ 
ash in the ocean, even though we see 
how small the actual percentage may be. 
The whole thing is yet in a crude state 
of development, but with this vast sup¬ 
ply at hand can we say that the ingeni¬ 
ous American people will stand by and 
let this great wealth remain unde¬ 
veloped ? 
Gathering the Kelp. —At present the 
method of gathering this kelp for market 
might be compared to the process of 
harvesting grain. A machine is used 
somewhat after the principle of a reaper 
or mowing machine. Those who have 
seen a header at work in a Western Har¬ 
vest field can realize how this machine 
works. The machinery is arranged at 
the front of a barge. The harvester- 
drops down into the water in front of 
this barge, and is operated by a gasoline 
engine. At the front of the apparatus 
is an old-fashioned cutting bar about 10 
feet in length, of much the same type 
as that used on a reaper. As the barge 
moves slowly forward this cutting bai¬ 
t-hops off the kelp deep under the water. 
Back of the knives of this cutting bar 
is a belt, not unlike the arrangement used 
on a hay loader. This belt running on an 
endless chain, brings the kelp up out of 
the water as it is chopped off by the 
cutting bar. At the top the kelp drops 
into a cutter which chops it up into 
short pieces, and a conveyor carries it 
to a large scow along side the barge, 
much as the heads of grain cut off by a 
header in a harvest field are carried to 
a wagon moving alongside. The ehopped- 
up kelp on the barge is later taken to 
shore, where it is dried and ground up 
reasonably fine, when it is ready for use 
as fertilizer. 
Money Value.— The Department of 
Agriculture figures that on the basis of 
prices for potash obtained on the Pacific 
coast a ton of this dried and ground kelp 
is worth $22.94. On the prices which 
would be figured in the wholesale mar¬ 
kets of the East, the figures show a 
value of $10.24 for the potash and $6.21 
for nitrogen, or a total of $16.45 for a 
ton of the dried kelp. In small scale 
operations the product obtained from this 
simple process of cutting, chopping and 
grinding, is a coarse grey pow-der. A 
cubic foot of it weighs 51 pounds. It does 
not absorb moisture readily, but when it 
has become wet, it swells and usually 
becomes sticky. The chie’f value, of 
course, would be as a potash fertilizer. 
It is said experiments have shown that 
the kelp is quite as effective as the potash 
salts used, being compared with muriate 
and kainit. Of course, this industry is 
now in its infancy. It cannot be said 
that this kelp potash is anything more 
than promising; at the same time there 
are such vast quantities of it in sight, 
and the need of potash is so great, that 
we feel confident methods will be found 
in the future to make larger quantities 
of it available, and that it will be used 
in larger and still larger quantities. In 
connection with it, will be used the vast 
quantities of fish waste now thrown away 
at the canneries along the Pacific coast. 
Millions of tons of this valuable material 
have in the past been wasted. In the 
interests of civilization this must sooner 
or later be saved. The process must be 
found for drying or condensing this fish 
waste, and combining the nitrogen and 
the phosphoric acid which it contains, 
with the potash in this kelp. Then we 
may truly say that after leaching the 
land for ages as it has done, the ocean 
begins to give back its value to feed 
mankind. 
Lime in Compost Heap. 
I N your issue of January 23 under 
head of “Brevities” you say—“A com¬ 
post heap with muck and lime in it is 
a good fertilizer factory.” I have been 
taught by my reading in agricultural pub¬ 
lications that lime in manure releases 
the ammonia, and if I am right it would 
seem that while gypsum might be bene¬ 
ficial lime would not be gvod. A. s. 
Toledo, O. 
You must remember that there are dif¬ 
ferent combinations of lime. Land plaster 
or gypsum is a sulphate of lime. When 
you would put it into manure, it has the 
"effect of preventing the escape, to some 
extent, of ammonia; a chemical change 
takes place which turns the carbonate of 
ammonia into a sulphate and in this 
form the valuable ammonia is held. On 
the other hand, if we were to put burned 
lime into manure, it would have the exact 
opposite effect. It would serve to set the 
ammonia free by turning it into a gas 
so that it would escape. Now the nitro¬ 
gen in muck or peat is unavailable, and 
cannot be used as a food for plants until 
it has been set free, ’or until it has been 
acted upon by ferments, and chemically 
so as to become available. If we put the 
land plaster into the pile of muck, there 
would be no such action. The lime on 
the other hand acts upon the muck to 
break it up, and the nitrogen in this 
way is made more available as plant food. 
An action of this sort is necessary in the 
muck pile, and it does not go far enough 
under ordinary conditions so that actual 
loss of ammonia will take place. 
“I suppose all these automobile stories 
originated with the chariots of the Pha¬ 
raohs.” “Very likely. I’ve no doubt the 
Tyre jokes are as old as Sidon.”—Cleve¬ 
land Plain Dealer. 
WAGONS BUGGIES HARNESS 
FORTY-THREE YEARS OF 
SERVICE CUTS DOWN 
WAGON’S COST 
My Studebaker was bought 43 
years ago from Delbart Lowe of 
Webberville, Mich., by Daniel Her¬ 
rick, a pioneer in this vicinity, now 
80 years old. 
In 1887, S. E. Dean bought the 
wagon from A. B. Herrick, Daniel’s 
son. 
Eight years ago L. C. Dean, son of 
S. E. Dean, bought the wagon from 
his father and still uses the wagon on 
his farm. 
The wagon has stood out of doors 
for 26 years; a yard and a quarter 
of gravel can be drawn in it now. 
Levi C. Dean, 
R.F.D., Webberville, 
Mich. 
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A Studebaker 
that has served 
three generations— 
F ORTY-THREE years ago 
Daniel Herrick bought a 
Studebaker wagon. Mr. Herrick’s 
son sold the wagon to S. E. Dean 
and Mr. Dean’s son is using the same wagon on his farm today. 
Think of the money that sturdy Studebaker wagon has made 
for every one of its four owners. 
But that’s the way with Studebaker wagons—they are a fine 
investment for they always pay dividends on the original cost. 
Not the Cheapest but the Best 
It is true a Studebaker wagon may cost 
you a few dollars more than a cheaply 
made wagon but when you consider the 
years of service you get from the Stude¬ 
baker isn’t it much the cheaper wagon in 
the end ? 
In fact, it is a safe proposition to judge 
your wagon by what it costs you per year. 
Records prove that you can expect 
at least thirty-five years of service from a 
Studebaker. Figuring that way it is the 
cheapest wagon in the world. 
Studebaker also makes Buggies and 
Harness warranted to give satisfaction. 
STUDEBAKER, South Bend, Ind. 
NEW YORK CHICAGO DALLAS KANSAS CITY DENVER 
MINNEAPOLIS SALT LAKE CITY SAN FRANCISCO PORTLAND. ORE. 
Adv. 20r 
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