292 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



duced one and one half tons were lost." That is due to our carelessness : 

 to our limited knowledge is due the waste of over ninety per cent, of the 

 energy of the coal burned under our steam boilers but not given out by 

 the connected engine. 



In the preparation of blast-furnace coke from coal by far the greater 

 part of the by-products are not saved. Thus Bogart states that in 

 1907 62,000,000 tons of coal were coked, but only 14 per cent, in such 

 a way as to recover the by-products; that by this process there were 

 wasted 148 billion cubic feet of gas worth 22 million dollars, 450,000 

 tons of ammonium sulphate of as great value and tar to the value of 

 nine million dollars, and that the gases lost annually in the coke in- 

 dustry have a calorific power equal to four billion kilowatts, or three 

 billion horse power. As to natural gas, the United States Geological 

 Survey accepts the judgment of State Geologist White, of "West Vir- 

 ginia, that not less than one billion feet are wasted daily. " This," he 

 says, " equals the annual consumption of natural gas reported for 1907. 

 This waste should furnish light for half the urban population of the 

 United States." 



Of our forests thousands of acres are destroyed each year by fire 

 and, in addition, a large part of the cut is left to rot as stumps, tops and 

 branches, only the best part of the trees being used. The story of the 

 soil has been similar ; we have raised crop after crop from it, robbing it 

 of the elements which the plant must have for the building of its tissues. 

 Of all except three of these the average soil has a sufficiency, but potas- 

 sium, phosphoric acid and combined nitrogen are frequently deficient. 

 Inasmuch as plants can not thrive unless all their needs are provided 

 for, it follows that these must be supplied if they are in any degree 

 lacking. At present we are drawing heavily upon our resources of all 

 three. Potassium, in early days derived from wood ashes, is now being 

 taken from the immense deposits at Stassfurt; but it is a well-known 

 fact that recently the German government has taken measures to largely 

 prevent the exportation of their output. Phosphoric acid has been fur- 

 nished by our mineral phosphates, which have been recklessly drawn 

 upon for domestic use as well as for exportation until the supply is sadly 

 impaired. 



Some species of plants can utilize the free nitrogen of the atmos- 

 phere, but most of them can assimilate this necessary element only when 

 it has been previously combined with others in such compounds as salt- 

 peter, ammonium salts or organic matters. One of these, Peruvian 

 guano, has already disappeared. The great deposits of sodium nitrate 

 — Chile saltpeter — on the west coast of Soutli America are being fast 

 removed. Nearly one hundred million dollars' worth are shipped in a 

 year and tliirty to forty years will probably see the last of this supply. 

 No other known deposits can replace it. The ammonium salts from 



