Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-12-17

Helps on the Pacific coast Working maps
have now been made Of nearly all the
commercially available kelp beds from
the Cedros Islands to the Shumagins off
the Alaskan coast. The area Of these
BEDS aggregates nearly 400 square miles,
capable OF yielding annually. either as
dried kelp or MS pure potassium chloride
over six times the present consumption OF
soluble potash salts In the United states
or something more than the worlds pres
ent total production. The DEVELOPMENT of
a great American industry, based on the
conservation and utilization Of this i'm.
portant national resource. of fundamental
Importance to the national agricultural
interests, seems now to be n matter Of
time only.
II all the coal that is now cooked in the
United states were treated in modern by
product ovens and the ammonia thereby
saved, the nitrogen tonnage would be
about that now consumed in the fertilizer
trade of the country. While the transit
ton from the old beehive" to the modern
furnace method is steadily progressing.
the greater dependence for nitrogen car
riers yet remains in cotton-seed meal
slaughterhouse by-products fish scrap.
and some other less important materials
The growing and insstent demand FOR
more heterogeneous feeds to support the
meat production demanded by the dietary
customs Of the American people is grad
ually but steadily withdrawing these OR
ganic" carriers from the command Of tn =
fertilizer manufacturers. while the de-
mand for nitrogen carriers is steadily in
creasing. The necessity for artificial
methods Of nxation OF atmosphere nitro
gen In the United states liz not immediate
~ present, but is approaching rapidly. r.
would be prema ture to announce the re.
suits of the departments investigation
as yet, but the types Of material which
are of commercial promise for American
conditions have been pretty well worked
out and substantial progress has been
made in the investigation of the funda
mental technical factors which must con-
troll the production of these particular
types. At the same time Investigation is
being made of other possible sources Of
nitrogen. Following up previous invest.
cation of the possibilities in the fsh-scra ?
industry Of the Atlantic coast, already de.
veloped, n study has been made Of the
possibilities on the Pacific coast includ.
ing Alaska The waste fish and fish re-
fuse approximate annually 10000 tons and
can be made to yield about 1900 tons OF
scrap fertlllzer) and 300, 900 gallons OF
oil, worth, perhaps, 81 800 600 A study Is
also now under way Of the possibilities
under American conditions of UTILIZING
garbage and other city wastes
Although improvements are being made
the wastage of phosphate rock at the
/ mines Is still dlsconcertingly large In
Florida, where the most actively worked
fields are situated, investiga lions of the
bureau of soils have shown that prac-
tcally two pounds OF phosphorus goes to
waste for every pound produced In mer-
charitable rock. Studies are now being
made looking to the recovery or proven
ton OF some Of this wastage by mechan-
ical methods. while several chemical
methods have been carefully investigated
one OF the latter is a modification OF the
well-known sulphuric-acd extraction but
by steps" Extraction by electrolysis
has been shown to be economically i'm
practicable, but the use OF the electric
current TO produce temperatures necessar ~
Tor rehabilitation methods appears very
promising. and AT least two such methods
are now being subjected 10 factory trials
by outside commercial orga nizat,on..