PART II. THE SOURCES OF FERTILIZERS 



SECTION I. MINERAL DEPOSITS OF 

 FERTILIZERS 



Nitrate of Soda. Chemistry is a fundamental science, and 

 therefore any substance may be considered as a "chemical." 

 The terms "chemical fertilizers/' and "artificials," are 

 intended to imply all materials which produce some specific 

 increase of crop, excepting farmyard manure or similar 

 substances made on the farm. Nitrate of soda is not a sub- 

 stance that could be manufactured on a farm, and is a 

 plain, simple salt, providing no ambiguity as to its 

 classification. 



The nitrate of soda industry has developed in Chili from 

 the small beginnings made in about 1830 to the large develop- 

 ments of to-day. The business has been so interfered with 

 by the war that it is a little difficult at the present time to 

 forecast its future. I/arge quantities of nitrate of soda have 

 been used in agriculture, but there are also considerable 

 quantities used for the production of gunpowder and other 

 explosives. Nitrate of soda is produced nowhere else in 

 the world outside of the northern provinces of Chili ; the 

 only other natural product of a similar kind is nitrate of 

 potash, which is obtained from certain soils in India and 

 Burma, and, to a lesser extent, in Africa. Hitherto the 

 proportion of nitrate of soda used in the British Isles has been 

 comparatively small, but it must not be forgotten that 

 sulphate of ammonia is a home product, which can be used 

 in place of nitrate of soda in many instances. A question 

 of considerable interest arises : Why should northern Chili 

 be so different from any other part of the world as to be the 



