Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-28

II NEADING crushed grain into
IA bread and weaving cotton cloth
- from the air are late accomplish
food by growing grain is supplied from
granite, and the cotton plant is FED on
nitrogen captured from the atmosphere
Billions of dollars worth of 1000 pro-
ducts and textile materials are taken
from the soil of the United states every
year by the farmers, much or whlcn
never finds it's way back to the eartn
of the same locality. The potash ana
phosphates and nitrogen and other
plant foods which are taken away must
be restored, or in time the farm Will pc
come barren and unproductlVe, says
Frederick ]. . Haskin in the salt Lake
Tribune Much has been done by the
adoption of scientific methods of agri-
culture and the rotation of crops ana
proper tillage, but the main dependence
is upon the utilization of applied ferti-
lizers That the older the farm the
more the need for fertilizers is forcibly
illus trated by the figures showing tnat
the old states east of the Appalachian
mountains use more commercial teru-
lizers than all the other states COM
bined.
The increasing demand for CONNER
cial fertilizers has caused a sharp ad-
vance in prices, and for this reason, II
for no other, great interest is mani
tested in agricultural circles in the ex-
perlments which tend to show that
granite and other feldspathic rocks, OF
which there is the greatest abundance
and common air, may be utilized for
fertilization Nitrogen is a plant food
of which much is required, and In which
many soils are deficient. Farmers have
learned to add to the supply of nitrogen
in the soil by planting red clover or
soy beans or COW peas These ana
other leguminous plants take the nitro
gen from the air, restore it to the de-
pIeted soil through the roots, and II
the green crop is plowed under, through
the other portions of the plant.
Now comes science and builds ma
chine which takes the nitrogen from
the air Just as the red clover does,
mixes it with a carrying agent, and
puts II UP in sacks to be shipped wher-
ever the farmer needs nitrogen for his
soil. The great nitrate of soda bed of
Chilli is the sole natural source of sup
ply of nitrogen in a form used for fer
tilizer. other sources of supply are
from the blood and tankage refuse of
the meat packing houses, sulphate OF
ammonia, which Is a by-product of coke
ovens, fish-scrap and cotton seed meal.
The imports of Chilian nitrates have
increased go per cent in ten years, and
the price has increased in the same
percentage. The demand for the lime
nitrogen which is produced from the
air is dependent only upon the success
of the experiments with growing crops
now being conducted in Europe and
Asia. Thus far the experiments have
been most encouraging, and in Ger
many and Italy the business has al
ready advanced to a position of i'm
ii
With a plant at Niagara Falls and
others to be erected in the south, the
lime nitrogen business soon will have
prominent place in the catalogue of
American fertilizers.
The process of manufacture is not in
tricate. Crushed coke is placed in a
battery of ovens with crushed lime of a
high quality. BY the application of an
electrical current temperature of 5000
degrees Fahrenheit is produced. This
great heat makes molten mass of the
coke and lime, which is then cooled,
cleaned and milled into a fine powder.
Air is compressed under enormous pres
sure until it becomes liquid. Nitrogen
gas of almost perfect purity is produced
from this liquid air by fractional distil-
lation. The powdered coke and liH1e
mixture is placed in another battery'of
ovens, into which the nitrogen gas is
brought in pipes. Again electricity Is
applied and lime-nitrogen is formed.
When this is taken from the oven 1T
looks like dark gray cast iron. 1t is
again crushed and milled into a fine
powder. is then treated with crude oil,
and is ready to be sent to the farmer to
enrich his lands. Thus scientists are
employed to do artifcially what one
red clover plant has known how to do
from the beginning. But the important
thing is that science has found how to
do 1t.
To'the unframed eve block of gran
ite is the most lifeless and hopeless of
substances. Yet experiments have
proved that a block of granite ground
to powder as fine as -four will enrich
the soil and make plants grow. Potash
is plant food of great value. 1t forms
the greater portion of the solid parts
of many vegetables. and is present in
larger quantities than any other solid
in the ashes of most plans. All of the