Chancellor Avery of the University who for two years in Idaho and three years at the State Farm held the chair of Agricultural Chemistry is inclined to smile at the statements of German professors that the war will be won on the American wheat fields through the shutting off of potash supplies. To a Star reporter he spoke in part as follows: "It is true that Germany has a monopoly on the Strassfurt beds of rock potash salts. In no other place in the world is potash deposited in a form similar to rock salt. Inasmuch as this is the only natural monopoly that Germany possesses and the only natural resource in which it is preeminent it is inclined to make the most of it. German professors were boasting of this advantage when I took lectures at Heidelburg twenty years ago. Potash salts are valuable on land that needs potash but worse than useless on land that does not need it. Much of the German soil is so poor in potash as to require very large applications. Thus the consuption of potash in Germany before the war was five times per acre that of Great Britain and fifteen times that of France. Potash is not used to any great extent in American agricutlure west of the Mississippi River. Experiments with potash at the University Farm show that it is not only unnecessary but that the application of potash salts are an injury inasmuch as it has a tendency to make white alkali in the soil. Dr. Alway and I figured out that within seven hundred years Nebraska corn fields would probably have to have applications of potash to produce good crops. Possibly however our figures were inaccurate and we should have said a thousand. Perhaps Germany will again sell us potash before this time elapses. The shutting off of German potash will reduce crops somewhat in the east and south will decrease the yield of corn markedly on certain reclaimed swamp areas of Illinois and Indiana and will have a depressing effect on truck farming. Already however American ingenuity and enterprise are supplying us with potash in considerable quantities. If Germany sees fit after the war to refuse 66 -2 to export potash to us at reasonable terms we can procure all we need from home sources though in the open market we could never compete in price. The home sources that have developed during the war are as follows: The Nebraska potash lakes furnish a very valuable source of potash though it is relatively expensive and comes mixed with other substances particularly the worthless salts of soda. Wood ashes which consist largely of potash salts are being more carefully cared for. California is beginning to supply the Pacific Coast through the burning of seaweeds which are rich in potash. The great supply of potash in the world however is locked up in feldspar rook. There is enough in our mountains of feldspar to supply a dozen worlds like ours for untold years. However to release this potash has been difficult and expensive. Recent patents however indicate that this problem is in process of solution whereby not only the necessary potash can be obtained but very valuable aluminum materials also secured as a by-product. In addition to the other sources it has been found that the volatile dust from the cement works contains considerable mounts. This has also been utilized for agriculture. It would seem therefore fairly safe that there can be no famine of potash though we hardly expect ever to manufacture potash salts out of our raw materials as cheaply as Germany can mine the already formed natural product at Stassfurt. The claims then of the German professors that they will win the war through the possession of potash supplies looks as though they were hunting desperately for a final peg on which hang their hopes of success. Professor Ostwald says that America's neck is in a noose that will begin to draw tighter and tighter as the years go on. There may be some element of truth in this. If our own potash reserves are not developed Nebraska will be likely to suffer seriously within five hundred to a thousand years.