INORGANIC NITROGEN FERTILIZERS 93 



Edward C. Worden, the explosives chemical expert of the 

 United States Bureau of Aircraft Production, Washington, 

 after his return to London from a tour of inspection of the 

 chemical industry in Germany. 



Such views are entitled to respect, not merely from the 

 point of view of war, but from the commercial and 

 industrial result of Germany's conversion from buyer to 

 seller of substitutes for sulphate of ammonia. 



" Speaking generally," said Dr. Worden, "the chemical 

 industry of Germany is, and has been since the Armistice, 

 just as prepared for peace operations as though war had never 

 interfered with it. The technical staffs of the great concerns 

 are at their maximum numbers. The skilled workers seem 

 as numerous as ever. The greatest achievement of the 

 Germans lies in their working of a process for the successful 

 fixation of nitrogen on a great commercial scale. The 

 headquarters of this new industry is the Haber plant of the 

 Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik at Oppau, near L,udwig- 

 shafen, on the Rhine, to which the German Government 

 since the Armistice has lent nearly 200 million marks. 



" Begun since the Armistice, built with reinforced con- 

 crete, this factory has now between 8000 and 9000 actively 

 employed. When completed it will have a storage capacity 

 of 350,000 tons of ammonia ready to be turned into ammo- 

 nium salts and a daily capacity of 2800 tons, an amount 

 sufficient, with potash and phosphates, to give an abundance 

 of fertilizers for all German agricultural purposes. 



" This building is only one of seven now in course of 

 construction, and its one storage shed is equal in area to the 

 whole of St. Pancras Railway Station. A few months ago 

 the site was an ordinary marsh, but to-day the building 

 contains such an intricate piece of plant as I have never 

 before seen in all my experience. Up to the present about 

 150,000 has been expended upon it. The machinery is 

 automatic throughout, the plant is practically duplicated 

 in every part, there are four tracks between each set of 

 buildings, and each building contains overhead automatic 

 conveyances. The success of the method employed without 



