Increased Supplies of Domestic Potash J.
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'VUIiRENTINE
Fertilizer arid Fixed Nilrtignrt ~nvest,igat,ions,h r e a u of Chemistry arid soils, (1. Agriciiltirre, Washington, D. C.
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lupmeiits witliiri t,lie hmrrican pot,asli industr). a.re of striking imlJ(:rt.anre and are particularly gratifying to thoa: who wonid fllrtlicr thr growt,il of tlie industry. t:onciirrently wit.11 the 50 per cttnt. ini:rme i n production capacit,y of the American Piitash and Cheroical Company's plant at Searles Lake, Ca.lif. (our 1iit.liertoprincipal production unit which for several years past. ha,s Co1lt~riblitrd 100,000toris of 60 per cent muriate), therc2ha.; taker1 place the mnniissioning of thr 1iotasli mine of the United States Potasli Company near Carlshad, K. Mex., our first potasll mini, producing a mter-soluble potash salt as a direct prodoct [if A mining iqjerat,ion. Tlic output to be rraliard from bliis itnportaiit new unit mill be remaled ill dm? season. lhlt it, may be predicted that!, as t,lic result of tlicse mw devdllprnents, production capacity for this agricultural RIUIiridustrial ntial will immediatrly be d o u l k i am1 qiiitc possil>Iy re led. A t the same tirncx, other potash projects are uniler development \!-hose import.ancc must, for the time h i n g , lit. measured in terms of potentialities rather thnil A tormugc productioii of the irrirnediate future. On the more conservative of the furegoing prcrlictic,iis \vr may now estimate current $iiie,ricnrr rapacity at 200,000 tons of potash (potassiimi oxide), rvlricli, in prodiic,tion will r q m sent a ten-year growti, from 25,000 tons criide salts (equivalent to 10,000 tons actual potash) in 15421. During the twenty-year period in wliich federal potash re relies Iiaw been conducted, inigwtations in foreign p t a ? h liave ilicreased from 271,000 t.ons acttiel potash (potassium oxide) in 1013, the last normal pre-war year, t,o 319,000 tons potassiurn oxide in 1930. The domestic outpiit prcdict,ed as an early realization will accordingly approach, iti ternis of actual potasli equivalent, 60 per cent of current importations. Judging efforts by results, it may he concluded from t,his showing of progress and achievement that the research ageneie-federal, state, and private-wlrich for many years have labored to establish an American potash industry, have on the whole labored wisely and well.
s. ~ ~ i ~ p d r t ~ of ~lellt
I~B:G~x~NIN(~ or 1 k n m . n I'OT~ASH I F&ral potasli irt\-est,igat,ionswere started in 1910. Tlieir itpailgnratioii \vas a eonrreto rasult of blie (;emian Potasli I,aw that>year making absolute the powers exercised by the (;crlnari Potasll Syndic,ate
