The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-12-03


ever seeking a more rapid process of
accelerating and improving plant !
growth. Fixed nitrogen, the most cost |
ly of fertilizers, has been found as all |
the world knows, eminently useful to
supply a want that Nature. Our frugal |
mother. who never gives without meas |
ure," fails to supply as fast as Nine
teenth Century requirements call for,
or even as Roman necessitates, as
chronicled by Varro, demanded two
thousand years ago.
DR.. Maxwell, in his observations on
the nitrogen supply az dealt with bV
Sir William Crooks, says: I'VE quote
the nitrogen content of soils in order
to distinguish between available and at
present unavailable nitrogen, the con-
tents of the latter form being still am
pie o assuage any immediate fears in
the presence of the picture of coming
desolation that Sir William Crooks has
put before u.s."
DR.. Maxwell speaks in his observa-
lions as to what Professor Crooks
would lead the public to believe, touch
ing the means and modes of Nature.
Would DIR. Maxwell, in the above quo
tation have the public understand that,
with such knowledge as we now pos
sess, the stores of nitrogen locked up"
in the earth, and in Dr. MaXwelPs
words, lat present unavailable" are
an entirely satisfactory source, a
source to be depended upon, per Sc,
warranting even the preClusion of any
scientific seeking for supplies promis-
ing greater economy than those we at
present wot of? Surely the ever grow
ing necessities of man, necessities that
day by day, now, in this living present,
seek vast quantities of available nitro
gen at great trouble and expense,
hppl11SA
discovered a key that will satisfactorily
unlock the abailabie' stores that
DR.. Maxwell speaks of al being lam
pie to assuage any immediate fears"
&c, surely, l say, these necessities
warrant such seeking, be Il IN the soil
or in the air. The immediate apparent
and practical value of the thirty-five
thousand pounds per acre Of nitrogen
that lie unavailable in the soil, and
that DR.. Maxwell alludes to, is prac-
tically nil, and hence we buy the 20 or
80 pounds of fixed nitrogen referred to
in the observations in order to acceler
lite growth and increase crops, and not
because the economy of Nature is
breaking down, a suggestion / fail to
find in Sir William Crooks address.
Touching the waste of nitrogen by
discharge of sewage into the sea DR..
Maxwell says nitrogen is as
table grOwths of the sea as by cereals
grown on land. This will strike many
as a remarkable reason why men
should, in Sir Williams words, "be con-
tent to hurry down drains and water
courses into the sea fixed nitrogen to
the value of e16,000,000 per annum,"
even though a fraction of it may come
back to the shores in the shape of fish!
Many, l venture to think, will agree
nd in
work "barbaric waste"
DIR. Maxwell assures Sir William that
the escape of nitrogen to the sea in
waste discharges from cities, is not
1.-THE of the weight of nitrogen which
is borne direct from the land to the sea
by common land drainage. That may
be true, but why does DR.. Maxwell
wish to suggest any possible COMPARE
son between the two cases? Why the
analogy? The sewage of our towns
and great cities we have in control. 1t
is comeatable, available. The rain fall
ing on a thousand hills into wide and
deep valleys, and on boundless plains
robbing us of nitrogen with one hand
whilst giving it with the other who
can measure it, stay it, cOnfine it and
rob it in turn of it's nitrogen, and
fertilize our fields with the spoil? No
one-we must perforce, be content to
let that go to the fishes and to the
plant growths of the sea- where it is
probably fulfilling it's proper part in
the economy of Nature.
A careful perusal of Sir William
Crooks address will, to many minds
fail to present a picture of coming
desolation," any more than that 1t Will
convey the impression that Sir William
takes the view that 1.-The economy OF
Nature is breaking down." or that he
proposes in any way to seriously dis
turb" it's every day most orderly pro-
cesses! On the contrary, the President
of the British Association assures the
world that by means of Natures active
and natural conditions, the economic
production of nitrate, on a scale COM
mensurate with any demands that may
be made upon it, is clearly within view.
The fiXation of nitrogen electrically has
already been achieved by hirIjelf, (Sir
William) and Lord Rayleigh, and he
concludes a paragraph of much inter-
est in these words: Even noW, ne
says, electric nitrate at e5 ton COM
pares favorably with Chile nitrate at
81 los, and all experience shows that
when the road has been pointed out
by a small laboratory experiment the
industrial operations that may fohoW
are always conducted at cost consld-
erably lower than could be anticipated
from the laboratory hgures. 10 ue-
velope and guide Natures latent ener-
gies," (the words are Sir Williams), Is
not seriously to disturb the every DAY
economy of Nature"
The reputation of the chemist who
addressed, as President of the British
Association, the brilliant gathering OF
| scientists at Bristol, on the 18th OF last
month and whose name is connected
with the tubes" that enable such mar
yellous work to be done by means or
the Roentgen or X Rays, and who has
been so generously eulogized by that
great master of electrical science, Nj
kola Tesla, say the reputation of the
eminent chemist is not likely to suffer
by such slur as the New York Times
thinks fit to cast when it says: "Dr.
Maxwell intimates that the president
of the British Association may know
good deal about apparitions, but he
has lots and lots to learn about nitro