UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



m BULLETIN No. 798 ,,, 



■— ^y4 £v^^^ Contribution from the Bureau of Soils 



JW^"^W<!» MILTON WHITNEY, Chief .fC^^^^U 



Washington, D. C. 



October 20, 1919 



A SURVEY OF THE FERTILIZER 

 INDUSTRY. 



Prepared under the direction of Wm. Wallace Mein, Assistant to tlie Secretary in 

 Charge of Fertilizer Control. 



By E. A. GoLDENWEisEK, Statistician. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



Materials used in mixed fertilizers 2 



Sulphuric acid and acid phosphate 4 



Sources of nitrogenous materials 7 



Potash-bearing m.aterials 12 



Production of mixed fertilizers 13 



Stocks 16 



Imports and export s 18 



Reference list 26 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Fertilizer Control was created under authority of the food 

 control act as a war emergency measure in the Department of Agri- 

 culture. Soon after its establishment this office undertook a survey 

 of the fertilizer industry in order to determine the materials used, 

 the products, and the stocks of ingredients and of mixed goods on 

 hand. In view of a serious shortage of several of the materials that 

 enter into the manufacture of fertilizer, it was deemed important 

 to ascertain what the requirements of the industry were, in order to 

 stimulate production of the scarce ingredients, and, if it became 

 necessary, to apportion the available supply of scarce materials on 

 an equitable basis. A series of questionnaires was sent out by the 

 office of Fertilizer Control. The information collected is for the calen- 

 dar years 1917 and 1918. In the case of fertilizer manufacturers a 

 schedule was first obtained for 1917 and the first six months of 1918, 

 and then another schedule was sent out to cover the last six months of 

 1918. Data on phosphate rock were obtained for 1918, information 

 for 1917 having been collected by the Bureau of Soils. A potash 

 schedule was sent out later in the year, and called for reports for 



127491°— 19— Bull. 798 1 



