^u 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Jii.v 13, 1918. 



THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF FERTIL 



IZERS AND CHEMICALS EMPLOYED 



IN AGRICULTURE. 



Important data lODtaiiud in an intoresting review cover- 

 ing detailed encjuiry into the above subject, recently 

 jjublishtd by the International Institute of Agriculture at 

 Rcnie, are summarized in the Iiihiiia/ii>iia/ Sugtir /m/nni/, 

 ilay 191 1?. In view of the growing scarcity of labour 

 occasioned by the prolonged war, the problem of the use of 

 fertilizers as an aid to agriculture has become a prominent 

 one, and there is need for increased fertility in the different 

 countries which are now forced more than ever to resort to 

 their own agriculture to produce their food requirements. 

 For this purpose the use of fertilizers is oce of prime 

 imforlance, and the summary of data concerning known 

 sources and quantities of the world's present production is nf 

 intere^t. 



N.\Tl K.\I. PHu.-rilA IKS. 



Natural phosphates area production confined mainly to 

 the L'nited Stales and the north of Africa. In the former, 

 tbe sales in lit Ki amounted to i',0 14. 196 tons: Tunis in tlie 

 same year supplied l,(i95,0O0 ton-, while smaller amounts 

 'were yielded by Egypt and Algeria. Makers of fertilizers 

 clain\ that the price of phosphitic fertilizers should show 

 a much greater increase than that of the rough phosphate, 

 the rise being nccessaiy to meet the enhanced price of the 

 sulphuric acid re(|uired in the iireparalicn of fertilizers. 

 It is anticipated that tbe improvement in the manufactured 

 ([Uantities of natural phosphates, manifest in 19 Hi, will 

 have continued during 1917. 



J5.\SIC .SLA<>. 



The production of Germany in the first ten months of 

 I'Ji'i was l,592,O0U tons as compared with 'IJjQO in 191-"'>. 

 The production of this commodity has also decreased consid- 

 erably in all other countries, a- will be seen from the 

 following summary: — 



Superphosphate of lime. 191G. 1915. 1914. 1913. 



Thousands of metric tons. 



Spain 



Frau'-e 



Great Rritain 



Italy 



1 'nited States 



3ir> 194 2-.'0 L'2.il 



350 600 1,600 1,9:^0 



685 — 820 



84.- 913 906 972 



— 2,533 3,785 2,34- 



l'(>T.\-il SAI,T> 



The German distribution department for production ot 

 I>ol:iah fixed the following aggregate for the year 1917: — 



Germany, 762.250 ton.-,; other countries, 155,00ii tons; 

 total, 91 1,450 tons ol pure pota>h. 



Deliveries of Ciernmn potash salts in 1916 reached a 

 total of 883,696 tons of pure potash, :iS against 680,005 tons 

 in 1915, 903,9S8 in 1914. and 1,110,370 tons in 1913. 



The production of potash salts in the United States in 

 1916 was estimated at 32,422 metric tons of products with 

 an average of about 7 per cent, of potash, representing a 

 production of pota.sh amounting to t<,SI8 tons. This is vtry 

 nearly ten times the production of 191"), but no more than 

 rine-twentieth the normal con-umption of potash in the 

 United States. 



.VITIiATK OK SOl/.V. 



The production of the Chilean nitrate bed.* in the first 

 lialf of 1917 was very nearly equal to that of the corre.^*- 

 ponding period in 1916, being l,4^2.122 metric tons in 1917, 

 and l,4f't>,792 in rtl6. In the first half of r.il5 a luinimum 



was established on a production ot aljout 600.UOO tons. The 

 stocks on the Chilean coast on June 30 have never been 

 .so large as those in 1917. they amounted to 936,235, while 

 they were 919,102 tons at the same date in 1916, about 

 !<50,iM)0 tons in 1915, and 775,000 tons in 1914. The 

 rea.son for this abnormal increase of stocks must be sought, 

 it is stated, in the fact that, while production totals show 

 little change, the shipments to l-^uropean and American ports 

 have been luucli hampered by the lack of tonnage, and by the 

 consequent enhancement of freight rates. These shipments 

 represent, during the first half of 1917, a total of 1,230,947 

 tons, as against 1,35G,()29 tons in 1916, say, 125,082 tons 

 less than 1917. 



SULI'H.VrK OK A.M.MOMA. 



A production of 700,000 tons of sulphate of ammonia 

 was expected in Germany for 191(>, while, according to the 

 most recent available data, the (juantity for 1915 was 

 549,000 tons. 



Owing to the enormous demand for steel, both for 

 European countries and American foundries, the production 

 of sulphate in the United States has greatly increased since 

 1914. In 1916 the production of ammonia, reckoned in 

 sulphate, was about 294,838 metric tons, or 47'7 per cent, 

 more than in 1915. The increase is still clearer when the 

 data are compared with those of 1914, when the production 

 was only 166,016 tons. 



For 1917 the American production of ammonia was 

 estimated at 400,00(1 tons, reckoned in sulphate: and the 

 ca[iacity for production in 1918, it is stated, may reach at 

 least 500,00(1 tons. 



The Japanese production of sulphate of aiumonia is also 

 continuously increasing. For 1917 the estimate was 50,802 

 tons, and some people predict a total of 60,000 tons. This 

 increased [iroduction is said to le due to the same causes that 

 have influenced the output in America. 



The subjoined table summarizes the information pub- 

 lished by the Institute of Agriculture with respect to the 

 production of sulphate of ammonia from 1914 to 1916: — 



Sulphate of ammonia, 1916. 1915. 1914. 



Thousands of metric tons. 



Spain K^ V\ K; 



France 25 42 — 



L'nited Kingdom 445 433 433 



Netherlands 4 5 5 



Itussia 33 16 17 



l'nited States 295 227 166 



Ja[>an 3^ 32 16 



Australia 7 7 6 



t \ \NAMn>l 



ALlll M. 



Cyauamide of calcium was, previous to the war, chietly 

 produced in the L'nited States and Canada, Norway, Sweden, 

 Germany and Austria-Hungary. As compared with 1914, 

 Germany in 191() had raised her production from 24,000 to 

 500,000 tons, Norway and Sweden from 10,000 to 220,000 

 tons, while the North American i)rodurtion was only increased 

 from 4is,0oo to 60,000 tons. These figures are, however, 

 only estimates. France from producing only 7,000 tons in 

 1913 obtained about l<a,000 in 1916. The American 

 consular reports consider that, besides this production of 

 cyanamide, (Jermany would recover in 1917 nearly 500,000 

 tons o I ammonia by the aid of the llaber process, which 

 represents, for that country alone, a total of nitrates extracted 

 from the atmosphere, equal to 200,000 tons. If to this 

 iire added the 140,000 tons of nitrates represented by the 

 700.000 tons of sulphate of ammonia expected in 1917 for 



