The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 55, May, 1862 by Various
page 136 of 277 (49%)
page 136 of 277 (49%)
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Patree in Guzerat, best sweepings, 8-7/10 "
In each case the salt is mixed saltpetres. _Artificial_. France, 100 lbs. earth from plantations afford 8 to 9 oz. Hungary and Sweden, from the same, 1/2 to 2-3/10 per cent. It may be calculated that the flesh of animals, free from bone, carefully decomposed, will afford ninety-five pounds of saltpetre for one thousand pounds thus consumed. In the manufacture of saltpetre, the earths, whether naturally or artificially impregnated, are mixed with the ashes from burnt wood, or salts of potash, so that this base may take the place of all others, and produce long prisms of potash saltpetre. In this country there are numerous caves of great extent in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, from which saltpetre has been manufactured. Under the most favorable conditions of abundance of labor, obtainable at a low price, potash saltpetre can be made at a cost about one-fourth greater than the average price of India saltpetre, and those sources of supply are the best natural deposits known on this side of the Rocky Mountains. Where there is an insufficient supply of manure in a country, resort to the artificial production of saltpetre is simply a robbery committed on the resources of the agriculturists, and it is only during the pressure of a great struggle like that of the wars of Napoleon, that |
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