1919] SOILS — FERTILIZERS. 23 



it. "The year 1917 shows no increase from Chilean nitrate, In spite of the 

 urgent demands of the Allies for greater supply. This was partly due to lack 

 of ships. The greatest increase . . . for the period 1909-1913 is shown 

 by the by-product coke ovens. In 1917 the increase was mainly due to the 

 cyanamid and Haber processes, so that in this year the world's supply came 

 almost equally from the three sources, Chilean nitrate, coke ovens, and syn- 

 thetic, the cyanamid process being the most important in the latter group, with 

 the Haber second." 



It is thought that the rapid rate of increase indicated for the period 1909-1913 

 is not likely to continue. " The largest demand for fixed nitrogen in the future 

 will probably be for fertilizers, and the use of fertilizers will be very largely a 

 matter of price. ... If all the resources of Chile and all the facilities in the 

 way of coke ovens now under construction and fixation plants should be utilized, 

 the year 1920 might well see a possible production of 25 per cent more than 

 1917. . . . 



" The cheapest source of fixed inorganic nitrogen will undoubtedly be the 

 ammonia from by-product coke ovens because it is a by-product and the cost 

 of collecting and putting it into marketable form is small. The coke ovens of 

 the world can now produce more fixed nitrogen than the world used from all 

 sources 10 years ago. It will be a powerful factor tending toward low prices. 

 It is probable that Chilean nitrate could, if necessary, be sold at lower prices 

 than in former years. The fixation processes will therefore have to be prepared 

 to meet possible low prices if they are to be ranked as anything more than 

 emergency reliances." 



The phosphate-rock industry in 1918 (U. 8. Geol. Survey Press Bui. Jfll 

 (1919), p. 2). — It is stated that the production of rock phosphate in the United 

 States in 1918 was 2,490,760 long tons valued at $8,214,463, as compared with 

 2,-584,287 tons valued at $7,771,084 in 1917. Florida land pebble constituted 

 80 per cent of the total output. There was, however, a small decrease in pro- 

 duction of land pebble, but a considerable increase in Florida hard and soft 

 phosphates. The production of phosphate in South Carolina increased about 11 

 per cent in 1918, but that of Tennessee and Kentucky was about 27 per cent 

 less and of the Western States 20 per cent less. 



Vegetation experiments on the availability of phosphorus and potassium 

 compounds, J. G. Lipman and A. W. Blair {New Jersey Stas. lipt. 1911, pp. 

 353-368).— In continuation of work previously noted (E. S. R., 36, p. 820) 

 further observations made during 1916 and 1917 on the relative availability of 

 various phosphorus carriers for* soy beans grown in pot tests are recorded, 

 together with a report on similar tests made during 1917 with greensand marl 

 as a source of potash for different crops. The results secured may be sum- 

 marized as follows : 



With soy beans grown in coarse white sand, basic slag as a source of phos- 

 phorus gave about as good yields as acid phosphate, while under the same con- 

 ditions blue rock phosphate yielded only slightly more than the check, and 

 brown rock somewhat better than the blue rock. The average percentage of 

 nitrogen in the dry matter (soy bean hay) was about the same with basic slag 

 as with acid phosphate, but was distinctly and uniformly less with raw rock and 

 where no phosphate was used. 



On coarse white sand, with greensand marl as a source of potash, barley 

 and buckwheat gave greatly increased yields over the checks, while on a coarse 

 yellow sand containing 1.09 per cent total potash (K2O) oats and buckwheat 

 gave very fair yields without potash treatment, and applications of marl did 

 not appreciably increase the yields. On the same soil, barley showed a slight 

 increase over the check for the marl treatment. On both the white and yellow 

 125697°— 19 8 



