The Monmouth inquirer., 1924-04-17
Main Elements In
Commercial Fertilizer

Present agricultural practice pre-
( scribes the use Of three chemical ele-
ments as a "soil amendment" "stim-
| ulant for plant growth" or "plant
food" as it is variously put. These
three elements when applied to the
soil in which a crop is growing have
been found by practice to afford an In
creased crop yield. They are phos-
phorus, potassium and nitrogen, spok-
en- of by the respective trade terms Of
phosphoric acid, potash and "ammon'
iates."
In the commercial fertilizers phos-
phoric acid is found in the form of cal.
cium phosphate, which is bone phos-
plate or rock phosphate, usually treat
ed with sulphurio acid to render 1t
soluble. Potash is found as salt or
salts of potassium, either sulphate or
chloride, and the "ammoniates" as the
inorganic salt of ammonia, ammonium
sulphate, the inorganic salts Of nitric
acid, sodium nitrate, and inorganic
compoundS of nitrogen, contained in
animal or vegetable refuse matter.
cottonsced meal, abattoir tankage, or
fish scrap.
The usual commercial fertilizers
contain these three elements and have
the designation Of complete fertii-
izers." These are sold under various
brand names, the various brands fire.
quently being recommended for par
ticular crops. The proportion OF the
three essential ingredients Is varied;
as usual thing that Of the phosphoric
acid is considerably higher than the
other two, which are present In about
the same proportion. Thus, for ex-
ample, a 1922 mixture" contains 6
per cent phosphoric acid (P2O5), q
per cent ammonia (NH3), and . per
cent potash (K2O). It's selling price
In the retail market is based on Its
analysis. Little attention is paid to
the source Of these ingredients SO long
as the essential compounds are avail
able" 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 as follows: OF phos-
phoric acid there Is an abundant
supply in the large deposits Of phos-
plate rock In Florida and Tennessee,
and the enormous deposits Of Idaho,
Montana and Wyoming.
OF potash, now obtained exclusively
from the German mines, there Is little
known in this country outside OF the
dessicated residues In Searles Lake,
Cal, and the giant kelps of the Pacific
littoral. In the latter there Is much
more than enough to supply the pres
ent demands of the fertilizer trade OF
the United States, the present annual
consumption of potash being about l.
100000 tons, of varied composition. At
present the KEEPS are not supplying
any of this, since 1t has not been de-
termined by actual experimentation
on a commercial scale that they can
be used economically as source OF
potash. Estimates based on costs Of
similar operations indicate that they
can be so used.
OF ''ammoniates" there Is large
source in the ammonia produced as q
by-product in the distillation Of coal
for the production of gas or coke. or
both. This source is but partially de-
veloped, as by the methods most COM
monty practiced In this country this
possible by-product is not recovered.
The amount of ammonia now going to
waste is almost large enough to supply
all of the "ammoniates" now demanded
by the fertilizer trade. The abattoirs
supply large amount of tankage and
dried blood of high fertilizer value;
but of these possible by-products there
is still an enormous loss through the
lack of organization and cooperation
In the slaughter of animals for food.