108 ANNUAL IlKPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the fact that for agricultural purposes it may not be necessary to 

 convert all nitrogen into nitrates, but that nitrogen of waste nitrog- 

 enous materials in the industries can be converted into compounds 

 of the nature of the beneficial soil constituents discovered in this 

 work, and so make available to agriculture much nitrogen now lost 

 because of the difficulty of converting it into nitrates. 



FERTILIZKR RESOURCES. 



The management of the soil for the efficient and economic pro- 

 duction of crops is the fundamental problem of agriculture. In 

 general, three instrumentalities are available, namely, tillage, crop 

 rotation, and fertilizers. And the history of the world shows that 

 as the civilization of a region advances intensive methods of cultiva- 

 tion replace the extensive methods of the pioneer, and all three in- 

 strumentalities must be employed that the land may be brought to 

 and maintained at a high productivity. 



Tillage and crop rotation problems are very largely within the 

 personal control of the farmer himself. Fertilizers, however, in- 

 volve contact with outside commercial and manufacturing interests, 

 so that they invite the special aid of the Government. Two great 

 problems are presented, (1) to find sources of fertilizer materials, 

 and point out methods and agencies for the preparation of the mate- 

 rial to the use of the farmer, and (2) to bring the people to a realiza- 

 tion of the value of properly used fertilizers. To both of these 

 problems this department is addressing itself assiduously. To further 

 the efforts of the department, especially in meeting the demands of 

 the first problem, Congress at its last regular session made a special 

 appropriation, directing that the Bureau of Soils should explore and 

 investigate natural sources of fertilizer materials. Although less than 

 half the fiscal year has expired since this appropriation became avail- 

 able, the results accomplished are of a character to justify special 

 comment at this time. 



Phosphatic fertilizers have been studied, the areas of productive 

 rock at present and prospectively available have been noted, and 

 valuable information has been gathered regarding improvements in 

 methods of saving waste at the mine and in the manufacture and 

 distribution or sale of product. It seems that new occurrences of 

 natural deposits of phosphates are being continually reported and 

 that the amount of such material now known to exist in this country 

 is so vast as to dissipate any fears as to our natural resources in this 

 regard. At the same time, for many reasons, improvements in meth- 

 ods of mining and utilizing this great resource are imperatively 

 demanded in the people's interest, and we have called attention to 

 these matters in appropriate publications from this department. 



