1919] SOILS — FERTILIZERS. 127 



nitrate of soda, 16 per cent arid phosphate, and muriate of potash which would 

 be, respectively, equivalent In nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash to the 

 amounts contained In 1 ton each of corn, oats, bran, oil meal, cottonseed meal, 

 clover hay, and alfalfa bay, as indicated by data given in Henry and Morrison's 

 Feeds and Feeding (E. S. R., 34, p. 261). At the present high prices of fer- 

 tilizers, the manurlal value of these feeds has been calculated as .$13.90, $17.80, 

 $33.23, $4S.63, $56.05, $26.02, and $32.76 per ton, respectively. 



[Fertilizers required for food production in Norway] (Tidsskr. Norsk? 

 Landbr., 2k (1917), No. 5, pp. 208-211; abs. in Internat. Inst. Agr. [Rome], 

 Intemat. Rev. Sri. and Pratt. Agr., 9 (1918), No. 9, p. lOIfl). — Summarizing data 

 which are given in detail, it is estimated that per annum " the total fertilizer 

 required in Norway to provide for food production is 70,862 tons of 15 per cent 

 calcium nitrate, 91,531 tons of 16 per cent superphosphate, and 41,336 tons of 37 

 per cent potash salts." 



Fertilizers in South Africa (So. African Jour. Indus., 1 (1918), No. 5, pp. 

 %65-467; Internat. Inst. Agr. [Rome], Internat. Rev. Sri. and Pract. Agr., 9 

 (1918), No. 6, pp. 668-670). — It is pointed out that the fertilizer requirements 

 of South Africa are, in descending order of importance, phosphoric oxid, nitro- 

 gen, and potash. Statistics are given of the imports of manures and fertilizers 

 into South Africa from 1913 to 1916, and the results of a survey, by the Scien- 

 tific and Technical Committee, of the fertilizer situation are briefly reviewed. 



The domestic sources of fertilizing materials include " South African guano 

 supplies, the increased employment of green manuring, the use of ground lime- 

 stone, the possible utilization of wool-washery and sawdust waste and of kelp 

 for supplies of potash, cottonseed by-products, locally produced ammonium sul- 

 phate, the supply of phosphates from the Seychelles and elsewhere, and the pos- 

 sible utilization of Saldanha Bay and other local phosphate rocks." In addition 

 there is a considerable amount of abattoir and fishery refuse which might be 

 used for fertilizing purposes. 



Efforts are being made to convert the large deposits of iron-alumina phos- 

 phates of South Africa into a form suitable for agricultural use. About 200 tons 

 per month of ammonium sulphate is being produced from coal in Natal, prac- 

 tically all of which is exported to Mauritius for use in growing sugar cane. 



Electric power for nitrogen fixation, E. K. Scott (Proc. Amer. Inst. Elect. 

 Engins., 37 (1918), No. 7, pp. 779-792, fig. 1; abs. in Sri. Abs., Sect. B— Elect. 

 Engirt., 21 (1918), No. 250, pp. 869, 370).— The author compares the direct arc 

 process for making nitric acid with the indirect cyanamid process. 



It is shown that the arc process is much simpler, and the suggestion is 

 made that a number of plants making nitrates by this process should be erected 

 at existing power houses, working with off-peak power. A plant of 10,000 kw. 

 is considered suitable. Transportation would thus be reduced. "A diagram 

 is given showing the layout of a battery of by-product coke ovens with an elec- 

 tric power house worked by the surplus gas and a nitrate-from-air plant to use 

 the electricity. Figures are given showing that the nitric acid made by such 

 a plant is about the right amount to combine with the ammonia to form am- 

 monium nitrate, a compound in great demand at the present time for explo- 

 sives." 



A new fertilizer, "superphosphate of ammonia," C. Brioux (Compt. Rend. 

 Acad. Agr. France, 4 (1918), No. 21, pp. 632-638; abs. in Chem. Abs., 12 (1918), 

 No. 20, p. 2104). — A method of using superphosphate to absorb ammonia is de- 

 scribed, and the fertilizing value of the neutral product thus obtained is dis- 

 cussed. The product obtained by this process in the experiments here re- 

 ported contained 15.8 per cent of phosphoric acid, 14.1 per cent of which was 

 soluble in 2 per cent citric acid, and 4.97 per cent of ammoniacal nitrogen. 



