NITEOGENOUS MANUEES. 223 



Storing and Handling of Nitrate. — Nitrate of soda is marketed 

 in the original sacks (catch- weight) weighing 120 to 140 kg. (264 to 

 308 lb.). It forms a mixture of crystals of ditferent sizes. It also 

 draws moisture from the air ; when it is preserved in sacks they rot 

 after some time and tear with the slightest pull. When the sacks 

 are emptied, one part of the material, always moist, remains adherent 

 to the fabric, from which there results not only a loss of matter, as 

 also a loss of sacks, as these gunny bags then become unutilizable 

 and are liable to catch fire. 



Nitrate of soda is often coloured yellow by the presence of chro- 

 mate of potash or violet by the presence of nitrate of manganese. 

 The presence of nitrate of potash or of magnesium chloride renders 

 it deliquescent ; hence arises loss by the drainage of dissolved nitrate ; 

 that is why the bags are lodged on beds of plaster or clay which 

 absorb the liquid. But it is best to spread the nitrate intended for 

 mixing in not too warm a place. The bags are washed w^th tepid 

 water, and the solution is added in the manufacture of superphos- 

 phate which has to be mixed wath nitrate,^ or it is concentrated in ^ 

 a pan. Certain manufacturers content themselves with beating the 

 bags free from the adherent salt. If the nitrate ought to be em- 

 ployed alone it is screened and the lumps crushed in a Carr's dis- 

 integrator, or in the toothed roll crusher. It is dried in the old 

 phosphate drier. However, if it be stored for a certain time in a 

 place that is not heated, it gradually becomes moist. In consequence 

 of the risk of fire, the building in which nitrate is stored should be 

 isolated and built entirely of iron.- 



Production of Nitrate in 1907. — The exports authorized by the 

 syndicate of nitrate of soda manufacturers of Chili, rose to 2,050,000 

 tons for the-year 1 April, 1907, to 81 March, 1908. Of these quantities 

 1,750,000 tons had to be delivered before the end of the year 1907, 

 and the remainder, say 300,000 tons, in the months of January, 

 February and March, 1908. Now these exports made from April to 

 December, 1907, only amounted to 1,225,000 tons. The cause of 

 this decrease lies in the first instance in the labour crisis. The 

 Chilian labourer more fit than any other to w^ork under the torrid 

 sun of the Pampas, is as improvident as he can be. He only works 

 when he must do so to live, and as wages are very high in nitrate 



1 This nitrate liquor if used up in wet mixing of manures might aid drying, 

 but it would all be converted into sulphate of soda. If poured on to a finished 

 superphosphate it would convert it into a wet paste, and after spoiling the manure 

 no credit would be given by the analyst for the nitrogen. — Tr. 



2 If sulphuric acid be made in the manure works, as is often the case, the 

 amount of nitre required for the pyrites burners should be fetched daily from 

 the store referred to in the text. The supports of the chambers are of pitch 

 pine, and if nitre bags full or empty heat in the neighbourhood of the kilns or 

 chambers the latter run the risk of being; completely burnt down. Storing nitre 

 in the original bags is bad management. They are far too heavy and clumsy 

 to be lugged about by one man.— Tpw. 



