Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-01-15
FINDING OUR OWN FERTIL
IZER.

Present agricultural practice pre-
.. s-rb-s the use OF three chemical Gle
meuts as o. soil amendment" a -stim-
uialt Tor pant growth" or "a plant
food a. 10 is yariousIy put These
three elements. when applied 90 the
soil sE Which a crop Is growing have
been found By practice go afford an
-ncre-aset crop yield. They are phos-
phoT1l1. potassium and nitrogen.
spoken % by the raEpectivc trade
terms OF phcBphoTic acid. potash and
-llmoliafcs.
tu the commercial fertilizer phos-
ph9ric acid o. found iu the form %
calcium pho pha.e. which a. bone
phosphate or rock phosphate. usually
treated with sgiphuric acid % render
% soluble Potash is found o. a salt
or salts % potassium. either sIiphats
or chloride. and the "ammculafes.'' as
the Inorganic salt % ammonia. am
mu1ium aulphate. the Inorganic salts
90 nitric acid. s1diuru nitrate. and iu-
organic compounds OF nitrogen. cal
c.um cysuamis or tire organic com
Euuuds % nitrogen. contained in ami
NAL or vegetable refgsc matter cot
t5l seed meal. abatfoir taukaEe. or
fsh scrap.
The usual commercial fertilizers
contain these three eiementr and
have the dsslE1atlon OF rcompiets fer I
tuizers~ These ara sold under var
Iotls brand anmes. the various brands
frequently being recommended for par .
ticuiar crops. The proportion OF the /
three essential ingredients g. varied. /.
e. a usual thing that % the Dhosphoric I
acid Is considerably higher than the I
other two. which are present Go about .
the same proportion. Thus. Tor ex-
ample. "a ~g-2-2 mixture contains G per
cent phosphoric acid tPeOsl. per
cent ammonia fNH1y. and 2 per cent
potash lEeOf. It's selling price in the
retail market T. based on It's analysis.
Little attention Is paid 20 the source
Of these ingredients 80 long as the es-
sentiRl compounds are available or
readily may be decOmposed or made
soluble for the use OF the plants.
The nations supply OF these three
common ingredients OF fertilizer may
BE- summarized a. follows: OF phOs-
1h0ric acid there - an abundant sup
ply In the large deposits OF phosphate
-Ock IN Florida and Tennessee. and :
he enormous deposits of Idaho. MUl-
ana and WyominE.
OF potash. now obtained exclusively
rom the German mines. there is little =
.nowu 10 this country outside OF the 1
essicated residues Fl Searies lake.
al. and the giant kelps Of the Pa
iic htt0ral- In the latter there g
much more than enough TO supply the
resent demands OF the fertilizer trade
Z the United States. the present an
rIal consumption OF potash being >
bout 4 .25O. 900 tons. OF varied COM
ositiou. At present the KEYS are not i
1pDlying any OF this. since Il has not "
zen determined by actual experimsn- =
ltion or a commercial scale that they &c
M be used economically a. n source q
, potash Estimates based on costs
similar operations Indicate that q
iey can be 80 used.
OF ''anmuniates" there g. a large a.
Iurce IN the ammonia produced as
by-protuct m the distiIiation % coal p.
n the production OF gas or coke. or M
,th. This source f. but partially de- II
,ioped. a. BY the methods most COM
only practiced o. this country THIS ~
,ssibie by-protuct Is no; recovered
be amount Of ammonia now going -
waste = almost large enough 10
pply al % the ~ammouiates~ now -.
'manded b. the fertilizer trade The
attoirs supply \ large amount % o
akage and dried blood OF high fer -
irer value: but % these possible by
oduc.s there T. sti1 an enormous
- through the lack % organization VI
q cooperation in the small scale SIS
Iugh;er OF animals for food. th'