10 



If you look at the table you will see the proportion of nitrogen which 

 is present in the various substances with which we have been 'dealing. 

 Now, under ordinary conditions a ton of nitrate of soda was worth 

 L.E. 10 ; it contains fifteen per cent of nitrogen. Divide L.E.10 by 15 

 and we get the cost of one per cent of nitrogen in a ton of material. 

 This is what is called the price per unit. Now, if the nitrogen in all 

 these various fertilizers may be assumed to be of equal value, it 

 is easy to compare the price of nitrate and so determine the 

 value of the manure in question. So far so good, but these prices 

 are for the material put on rail : we want to know the price at the 

 farm. Various waste and refuse materials are now being put on the 

 market in this country, but being all of a very poor quality it does 

 not pay to carry them to any great distance, and for this reason they 

 must have a rather limited application ; and for the land which is 

 difficult of access it is evident that the most concentrated fertilizer 

 will be the one to buy. The matter is not really quite so simple 

 as this, because the price per unit increases with the concentration, 

 so, that the benefit which should accrue from the use of a concentrated 

 material is somewhat discounted by the relatively higher price. 



It is stated that urea is being produced synthetically in Germany 

 from ammonia, ammonium carbonate being the intermediate product; 

 if this can be done in an economical manner it is evident that a most 

 concentrated fertilizer will result. The nitrogen which is present in 

 urea is of the same value from a fertilizing point of view as the nitrogen 

 in ammonia, which is again of practically the same value as that in 

 nitrate of soda. The interesting feature as regards urea is that it 

 does not contain any metallic base or any acid. When it decomposes, 

 it does so into ammonia and carbon dioxide. 



This principle of preparing concentrated fertilizers where transport 

 is expensive has long been applied to phosphatic manures. The ordi- 

 nary " Super " of commerce, such as is employed in this country, 

 contains some 17 to 18 per cent of phosphoric acid, but a " concen- 

 trated " or double super can be purchased which contains 38 to 43-8 

 per cent. Obviously, if there is not too great a difference in the cost 

 per unit -he latter will be the more profitable to employ in those 

 places where transport forms a great part of the expense. 



And now, supposing we have this supply of nitrogenous fertilizers, 

 which for the sake of argument we may put at 100,000 tons per annum, 

 let us say 50,000 produced locally and an equal amount imported. 

 This quantity will be sufficient for one million feddans of cereals and 

 should give an increase in the crops of at least a million and a quarter 

 ardebs of grain, or say six million bushels. The total crop of the country , so 

 far as wheat goes, is about thirty-five million bushels, so that the increase 

 would be quite noticeable, amounting to about seventeen per cent. 



