UTILIZATION OF THE FISH WASTE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 3 



as the inorganic salt of ammonia, ammonium sulphate, the inorganic 

 salts of nitric acid, sodium nitrate, and inorganic compounds of 

 nitrogen, calcium cyanamid, or the organic compounds of nitrogen, 

 contained in animal or vegetable refuse matter, cottonseed meal, 

 abattoir tankage, or fish scrap. The usual commercial fertilizers con- 

 tain these three elements and have the designation of " complete ferti- 

 lizers." These are sold under various brand names, the various brands 

 frequently being recommended for particular crops. The propor- 

 tion of the three essential ingredients is varied ; as a usual thing that 

 of the phosphoric acid is considerably higher than the other two, 

 which are present in about the same proportion. Thus, for example, 

 a "6-2-2 mixture" contains 6 per cent phosphoric acid (P 2 5 ), 

 2 per cent ammonia (NH 3 ), and 2 per cent potash (K 2 0). Its sell- 

 ing price in the retail market is based on its analysis. Little atten- 

 tion is paid to the source of these ingredients so long as the essen- 

 tial compounds are " available," or readily may be decomposed or 

 made soluble for the use of the plants. 



The Nation's supply of these three common ingredients of fertilizer 

 may be summarized as follows : Of phosphoric acid there is an abun- 

 dant supply in the large deposits of phosphate rock in Florida and 

 Tennessee, and the enormous deposits of Idaho, Montana, and Wyo- 

 ming. Of potash, now obtained exclusively from the German mines, 

 there is little known in this country outside of the desiccated residues 

 in Searles Lake, Cal., and the giant kelps of the Pacific littoral. In 

 the latter there is much more than enough to supply the present 

 demands of the fertilizer trade of the United States, the present an- 

 nual consumption of potash being about 1,250,000 tons, of varied com- 

 position. At present the kelps are not supplying any of this, since it 

 has not been determined by actual experimentation on a commercial 

 scale that they can be used economically as a source of potash. Esti- 

 mates based on costs of similar operations indicate that they can be 

 so used. Of " ammoniates " there is a large source in the ammonia 

 produced as a by-product in the distillation of coal for the production 

 of gas or coke, or both. This source is but partially developed, as by 

 the methods most commonly practiced in this country this possible 

 by-product is not recovered. The amount of ammonia now going to 

 waste is almost large enough to supply all of the " ammoniates " 

 now demanded by the fertilizer trade. The abattoirs supply a large 

 amount of tankage and dried blood of high fertilizer value; but of 

 these possible by-products there is still an enormous loss through the 

 lack of organization and cooperation in the small-scale slaughter of 

 animals for food. 



The present consumption of the various " ammoniates " and their 

 relative contribution to the total amount of nitrogen used in the 

 fertilizer industry are shown in the table following. 



