Vol. LXXVII. 
Puhlishf'd Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co.. 
333 W. Both St., New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YOTtK. NOVEWREU 23, 191S. 
Kntered as Sccond-Ciass Matter, .Tune 26, 1879, at the Post 
Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3. 1879. 
No. 4i5(K^. 
American Potash 
Found in Nebraska Lake 
Part I. 
P RE-WAR CONDI¬ 
TIONS.— This war 
has forced great changes 
into many lines of busi¬ 
ness, including agricul¬ 
ture. The outbreak of 
actual fighting found the 
Avorld unprepared for 
anything hut peace, and 
world-wide distribution 
of products. Nations 
had come to the point of 
neglecting home indus¬ 
tries or products if some 
other nation found itself 
able to produce the 
needed goods a little 
cheaper or with less 
worry. Thus the na¬ 
tions, like individuals, 
Avere becoming special¬ 
ists. They gave up try¬ 
ing to produce CA’ery- 
thing they needed, but 
each one undertook to 
produce a fcAA' things 
for Avhich its people 
Avere Avell fitted. Then 
they traded these things 
for their other necessi¬ 
ties. INIost of the nations 
except Cerniany fell into 
that habit. The Cer- 
mans had dreams of 
AA'orld control, and AAiiile 
other nations prepared 
for peace they prepared 
for Avar. 
AMERICAN DE¬ 
PENDENCE.—A strik¬ 
ing example of this spe¬ 
cializing on the part of 
a nation Avas the way 
America came to de¬ 
pend on Germany almost 
entirely for potash. No 
particular effort Avas 
made to develop Amer¬ 
ican sources of potash. 
The German supply Avas 
abundant, and the rest 
of the Avorld stopped 
hunting for this element 
of plant food and per¬ 
mitted Germany to be¬ 
come the potash dictator 
of the Avorld. War came 
like lightning out of a 
Summer cloud, and Ger¬ 
many believed that she 
could starve the Avorld 
into submission by keep¬ 
ing her potash at home. 
As Ave look back upon 
the history of this Avar 
we can now see a long 
list of German blunders 
through a failure to iin- 
derstand the spirit and 
the resources of this 
country and its people. 
It is strange that a peo¬ 
ple as efficient as the 
Germans could not grasp 
the thought that this 
great country has, hid¬ 
den away in some cor¬ 
ner, abundant supplies 
of every ne<'essity of 
man, and that only the 
spurs of pride and pov¬ 
erty are needed to make 
Americans find AA'hat 
they need. 
REVERSING CON- 
DITIONS.-Thus it has 
proved Avith potash. 
What the Germans in¬ 
tended as a calamity 
has proved a blessing. 
AVe have found sTipplies 
of potash in this coun¬ 
try. Already these 
A m e r i c a n supplies 
amount to 2.o per cent 
of our total recpiire- 
ments, and in the future 
Ave may even have a sur¬ 
plus for export! These 
potash discoveries Avould 
have been held back for 
25 years had it not been 
for the Avar. 
SOURCES OF SUP¬ 
PLY.—Potash is now 
being taken from kelp 
or seaAveed, cement dust, 
blast furnaces and fi’ora 
rocks, hut thus far the 
largest supplies are 
found in the alkali lakes 
in Western Nebraska. 
The story of thi>; potash 
develo]>ment reads like 
a romance. There are 
men still living Avho 
made the long OA'erland 
journey across the con¬ 
tinent before rallroad.s 
were built. When they 
crossed the Missoiui 
River and started on 
the Western trail, they 
soon entered a dry des¬ 
ert of burning sand, 
bloAvn into little hills, 
with little or no grass, 
and apparently shunned 
by most living creatures. 
Noav and then they 
Avould come upon a pond 
or lake gathered in some 
little depression among 
the hills. At first they 
Avelcomed these lakes, 
and men and beasts 
rushed for av a r d to 
quench their thirst. They 
Avere bitterly disap¬ 
pointed to find the.se 
ponds filled with a thick, 
bitter brine utterly un¬ 
fit for drink. Now and 
then they found a small 
pond Avith brackish 
water which necessity 
