South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-11-24
SUBMARINES AND
SOIL FERTILITY
AFFECT FARMERS
Must Produce More to Help
Feed Ocean Bottom as
Well as Troops in
Trenches.

The grip of the scourge Of the
seas = now. after months of war
fare, felt by the American farmer
When the Lusitania went down the
whole world shivered with horror
horror at the very savagery OF the
deed, yet few Of Us realized at the
time that within a comparatively
snort time the entire world would,
in one way or another, be at the
mercy of these newest and most saw
age of all implements Of war.
Least of all did the American farm
er realize that the submarine men
ace would have any effect whatever
OF his b.-ity TO raise crops and
do his bit in the line of food pro-
duCticn
But it has, The war itself in IFS
earliest day cut off supplies Of pot
ash. Now the submarine warfare
has reduced the supply of Spanish
p-rites from which sulphuric acid
is made. This sulphuric acid is used
IN the manufacture Of acid pAOs-
phate, and also in the making OF
complete fertilizers. Without it raw
rock phosphate has but little agri-
cultural value, and many materials
now used in fertilizers could not be
included
Pyrites Carried at Low Rates.
These Spanish pyrites are usually
shipped from the port of Huelva on
the southwest coast - Spain, this
size of the Gibraltar gateway. Med
ite-ranean freighters returning from
Europe take on these pyrites at very
low freight rates, even almost as
ballast. From Huelva the pyrites
are carried to Charleston TO Savan-
nah, TO Norfolk, TO Baltimore and
Joints north. At these places the
pyrites are burned, the sulphur sep
arated and turned into sulpruric
acid. Later on, ton for ton this
acid is mixed with rock of phos-
plate, and in this way the acid
phosphate of commerce is produced.
In other factories this acid phos-
phate is mixed with the blood, bone
and tankage Of great slaughter
houses. and with other materials
carrying nitrogen, for the produc-
ton of the complete fertilizers on
which depends the production Of
sufficient supply of food crops.
Some of these Mediterranear
freighters have been commandeered
by the government, others have
been sent down by the dreaded sub
marine, and still others are tied up
in neutral ports all over the world.
Conditions Are Serious.
Few farmers realize the serious
nature of the case. Perhaps the
average boat i'm this trade will carry
(, 900 tons of pyrites. Every ton
of pyrites will make i'm the neigh
borhood of four tons of acid phos-
phate, or up TO eight tons of COM
plete fertilizer. Every 1000 ton
boat taken from the pyrites carrying
trade means a loss OF the acid for
the fertilizer which would usually
serve approximately 10000 acres OF
corn, Of wheat, or of any other ce-
real crop. It diminishes by this
much the ability Of the farmer TO
utilize to advantage his short sup
ply of farm labor. 10 grow suffi-
cient crops, and at the same time
give up to military service the boys
Of the farm.
Domestic Pyrites Help.
But this doesn't mean that we
shall have no fertilizer. All over
the country there are small domes-
tic deposits of pyrites. These can
be and are being manufactured into
sulphuric acid for fertilizer use and
il looks as though there will be
enough. But the freight trade. on
these domestic pyrites is higher than
that of Spanish pyrites and the
quality often lower. The cost OF
labor in mining is always higher.
and the cost of handling greater.
These facts mean inevitably an in
crease in the cost of acid phosphate
and complete fertilizer. Fortunate
", however, this increase in cost is
more than balanced by the increase
in price which the farmer receives
for his crop. Were this not the case
the American farmer and the Amer
lean farm would indeed be in a bad