0 a salty-tasting white powder used to preserve meat, and also used in producing explosives and fertilizers (= substances that help plants grow) --
Somebody has scattered little piles of saltpeter all over the summit.
All these explosives are made from nitric acid and this used to be made from nitrates such as potassium nitrate or saltpeter.
But "saltpeter in gunpowder is better than no salt at all" is an old axiom among hunters.
He created artificial niter beds, from which sufficient saltpeter was obtained, and within a year was furnishing the finest powder.
During the saltpeter times, 1812-1816, elsewhere described, men came and went in carts or on horseback.
A saltpeter magazine was in flames, and the operatives exposed to great danger.
Having no manufacturing industries which required saltpeter, very little of that was purchasable in our markets.
This brine is rich in animal matter extracted from the meat, and usually also in saltpeter, which has been used in pickling.
