The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-13
CROPS OF THE FUTURE.
Electricity May Play n Prominent
Part in Wheat Growing.
Philadelphia Record.

Electricity appears to have been intend
ed to supply all mans physical wants. AL
ready it has entered into his life in innum-
cradle ways, which were inconceivable
few decades ago, and who can say but that
the most important applications of electric
power are not yet to be discovered. Every
year witnesses the extension of commercial
electrical processes, mining has been revo-
lutionized, transportation has made wonder
full progress, printing and electrotyping are
synonymous; night has been turned into
day and distance annihilated. but if the
predictions of Sir William Crookes should
be fulfilled future generations will be de-
pendent upon electricity for their daily
bread, speaking literally. The opinion of this
eminent authority should be given addition
al weight by the present generation as the
X-ray tube and its invisible radiations are
the outcome of his pioneer Investigations
of electric discharges in rarefied atmos-
phere.
In his presidential address before the Brit
ish Association for the Advancement of
Science Sir William Crookes pointed out
the probable salvation of the Caucasian
race in the electrical fixation of nitrogen.
While the urgency of the successful ac-
complishment of this may not appeal to us
to-day, yet the rapid development of electric
power, the cheapening of it's production and
the extension of the limits of feasible COM
mercial transmission may render the prac-
tical dxation of the nitrogen of the atmos-
phere in a form suitable for assimilation
by plants, the most important source of
nitrogen for economical reasons
mat there is demand for this fixation
is evident from the study and thought the
subject has been given by German chemists
DlOlOSlSIS. 3ttpmntRd intro
auction OF nitrogen reducing microbic or
ganlsm FOR certain crops. Beautiful as is the
idea OF ferttlizing leguminous and wheat
crops by innoculating the soil with organ
tSms that will extract the nitrogen from the
air and transform it so as to be assimilable
by these crops, 1t is doubtful il it will prove
of commercial Importance, although there
is no denying that such incubation is sue
cessful in hot house and laboratory expert
ments.
Perhaps no one is better informed than
the farmer of the fact that the soil becomes
exhausted of the particular elements re-
CURED by the growth of the crops grown
In 1t. 1t is recognized now that all crops
require what 1t called "a dominant ma
nure." Some need nitrogen, some potash,
others phosphate. Wheat, which is the
mainstay of the white races, pre-eminently
demands nitrogen fixed in the form of
ammonia or nitric acid. Land, it is pointed
out, is a limited quantity, and the land that
Will grow wheat is yearly becoming more
restricted and that on which crops have
heretofore been raised less productive. Nj
saltpeter forming the most abundant and
widely used fertiiizing agents of this class.
This substance occurs in a natural deposit,
extending over narrow strip of land on
the plains of Tamarugal. In this rainleSS
district, to quote from Professor Crookes's
address, for countless ages the continu-
GUS flXation of atmospheric nitrogen by
the slow Transformation of billions of Wit
rifying organisms, its combination with
soda, and the capitalization OF the nitrate
have been steadily proceeding until the nj
trate fields Of Chile have become of vast
Importance and promise to be of ineStima-
bly, greater value in the future. AS the
number of mouths to be fed is steadily null
tiplying in an increasing ratio, and the
available lands for raising wheat crops are
as rapidly being utilized and exhausted,
and the only available deposits of nitrate
are but limited the available land Is rap
idly being worn out.
The fact that nitrogen is one of the most
abundant of all the elements, forming as it
does one of the constituents of the atmos-
phere, has led many investigators to at
trogen with the partial success above re-
ferred to. Nitrogen is .combustible gas,
perature of its flame. Were this not so,
should the nitrogen of the air one be ignited
by any means the flame would spread to all
parts of the universe and consume the whole
world.
The possibility of the electrical fixation
of nitrogen was discovered by Lord Raleigh
during his recent experiments in the iSola-
ton of the new element argon. With the
object Of burning out nitrogen from air, so
passing a strong induction current between
terminals, ignited the nitrogen of the air,
which burns with a powerful flame, produc-
ing nitrous and nitric acids. Based on the
experimental data thus derived it is calcu-
lated that it would take 1900 kilowatt
hours to induce the union of one ton of
nitrogen and oxygen. From this it is de-
Quoted that electricity generated on a large
scale with a steady load can be produced
for about Six-tenthS per kiowatt hour,
which would make a ton of nitrate of soda
cost $125, whereas Chile nitrate costs about
$37 so per ton. With the rates for power
obtained at Niagara, however, it is pointed
out that nitrate Of soda could be- produced
at $25 ton, which compares very favorably
with the Chilean product in cost. More
over, it is said all experience shows that
industrial operations on an extensive scale
are invariably carried out at a cost consid-
erably below that deduced from laboratory
experiments.
Naturally the question suggests itself, will
it require the exhaustion of the already de-
pleted coal mines to develop all the electric
power necessary to supply the demand for
electric nitrate?
On this point Professor Crookes shows
that there is enough power in the falls of
Niagara to supply the 12.000O00 tons of nj
trate now obtained from Chile, without less
ening appreciably it's flow, and the innu-
merable water powers throughout the coun-
try would likewise be available.
Electricity has already heightened the
scores of mans life by bringing him into
instant communication with the rest of the
world, it has prolonged the day far into the
night pandered to his comfort and happi-
ness in hundreds of ways, and now it gives
promise of being the ultimate food salvation