448 



HOETICULTUEE 



November 2, 1918 



FERTILIZERS AND WAR SUBSTITUTES 



Address by William P. Redd, Manager of the Grasselle Chemical Company, at South 



The available supply of plant foods 

 for agricultural uses during the war 

 has given the government serious con- 

 cern, as the government knew the ex- 

 tent of our resources in this field and 

 to what extent they would be drawn 

 upon to prosecute this war to a suc- 

 cessful conclusion; while, on the other 

 hand, the user of plant foods( or fer- 

 tilizers) did not begin to realize to 

 what extent these same plant foods 

 would be consumed in the manufac- 

 ture of explosives. 



Of all the plant foods now known to 

 science, there are none given as seri- 

 ous consideration as the three essen- 

 tials — viz.: phosphate, nitrogen and 

 potash, and our soils do not produce, 

 successfully, many things where these 

 three elements are not either present 

 or supplied. It. is also a well proven 

 fact that the blending of these foods 

 into one complete mixture before ap- 

 plying, in such proportions as each 

 individual crop requires, is the most 

 Intelligent and profitable method of 

 application; therefore, it may be con- 

 cluded that the curtailment of either 

 of the three essential plant foods is a 

 serious handicap to soil production. I 

 will, therefore, confine my remarks to 

 the probable available supply of phos- 

 phate, nitrogen and potash during thel 

 continuation of this war, taking them 

 in the order that I have named them. 



Phosphate. 



The source from which we derive 

 our phosphates in available, or solu- 

 ble form, is mainly from .acid phos- 

 phate, and acid phosphate is made 

 from ground phosphate rock and sul- 

 phuric acid, mixed in approximately 

 equal proportions; therefore, to pro- 

 duce a considerable quantity of acid 

 phosphate, it requires an equal quan- 

 tity of sulphuric acid— while, on the 

 other hand, sulphuric acid is the basis 

 of all explosives to be manufactured 

 for prosecuting the war. 



Up to the beginning of the war, in 

 1914, it is reliably reported that the 

 fertilizer industry was consuming, an- 

 nually, about two million tons of sul- 

 phuric acid, which would indicate that 

 we were producing in the United 

 States about four million tons of acid 

 phosphate, or a tonnage equal • 

 entire amount of sulphuric acid pro- 

 duced for all purposes. 



In 1917, it is reported that our an- 

 nual production of sulphuric acid had 



Association, Birmingham, Ala. 



jumped from four million to seven 

 million two hundred thousand tons, 

 while our production of acid phos- 

 phate had been reduced from four mil- 

 lion to approximately three million 

 tons, showing that, not only have the 

 increase of three njillion tons been 

 consumed for war purposes, but that 

 five hundred thousand tons of sul- 

 phuric acid had been consumed that 

 would have otherwise gone into phos 

 phate. 



The above illustration is made to 

 show the effect of the war upon the 

 fertilizer industry in reducing the 

 production of one of its most essential 

 plant foods. 



I haven't the time to go into the 

 functions of phosphorus in plant 

 growth; we all know of its indispensa- 

 ble value in crop growing. Whether 

 our deductions have been made on the 

 farm, by careful observation, or by 

 scientific study, it is of enough im- 

 portance and value to be given serious 

 consideration by nations in the win- 

 ning or the losing of the war; besides, 

 the demand is here, and what we real- 

 ly want to know about is the supply. 



It is extremely doubtful that the 

 manufacturers can produce or get the 

 sulphuric acid to make as much phos- 

 phate for next season as last. The 

 government is taxing the manufactur- 

 er to the limit of his capacity for acid, 

 while wishing him to make every 

 available ton of fertilizer possible. 



The government knows that fertiliz- 

 ers largely increase the food crops, 

 and that the war cannot be won with- 

 out food, but there is a limit to the 

 capacity of the sulphuric acid plants, 

 and especially so since the Spanish 

 ore supply has been cut oft. 



Nitrogen. 



While phosphate, as a plant food, 

 may be likened to bread for the hu- 

 man stomach, nitrogen (or ammonia) 

 is the meat. 



The Bible tells us that — "Man can- 

 not live by bread alone." Neither can 

 successful crop growing be done with- 

 out nitrogen. 



Nitrogen produces body, foliage and 

 size, so that a stalk, or a tree, may be 

 capable of bearing wholesome fruit, 

 and, while Its functions are different 

 from phosphorus. It is equally essen- 

 tial, as with meat and bread for the 

 human stomach. Because our crops 

 are gathered and taken from the fields. 



ern Nurserymen's 



our old lands have very soon become 

 lean in nitrogen, and, therefore, non- 

 productive. 



Barnyard manures are the best ni- 

 trogen builders of the soil, because of 

 the nitrogen it contains; besides, it is 

 full of bacteria, so essential to assimi- 

 lation, but, unfortunately, so small an 

 amount can . be produced that It is 

 necessary to turn to other sources for 

 nitrogen. 



The soluble or available forms of ni- 

 trogen that have been so extensively 

 used by fertilizer manufacturers may 

 be classified under three heads— ani- 

 mal, vegetable and mineral. 



Of the animal ammoniates, tankage 

 has furnished the largest part. Next, 

 fish scrap and blood. A new use has 

 been found for tankage within the last 

 few years, which practically elimi- 

 nates it as a fertilizer Ingredient— 

 viz.: it is now used as a cattle food. 



Blood and fish scrap are produced 

 in such small quantities that but little 

 consideration can be given them as a 

 source of supply. 



The vegetable ammoniates have 

 been largely used in the south — viz.: 

 cotton seed meal, velvet, soya bean 

 and peanut meal and ground tobacco 

 stems, all of which carry both ammo- 

 nia and potash in a highly available 

 form. However, all of these products, 

 excepting ground tobacco stems, have 

 been recognized as such a valuable 

 cattle and hog food that it is feared 

 that within a short time they will also 

 be eliminated as a source of ammonia 

 for fertilizers and that the manufac- 

 turer will have to turn to the mineral 

 sources of supply, such as cyanamid 

 (or air nitrogen), nitrate of soda and 

 sulphate of ammonia. 



From the 1917 cotton crop but 

 slightly in excess of two million tons 

 of cotton seed meal were produced, 

 which was marketed around $49.50 

 per ton, with freight added. However, 

 the demand for this meal as a cattle 

 food was so great that but little was 

 obtainable for use in fertilizers: 

 therefore, the production of complete 

 fertilizers was much reduced. 



The quantity of meal available this 

 season will depend upon the outcome 

 of the present cotton crop. However, 

 it Is not anticipated at this time that 

 the quantity will exceed last season. 



Mijneral Ammoniates. 



As before mentioned, the three 

 available mineral ammoniates are — 



