Tiie Fixation of Nitrogen 11 



falls oil the Bann might be used for the Haber process which 

 requires only a moderate expenditure of power. Nor can the day 

 be far distant when we shall harness the waters of the Shannon, 

 and for Ulster the waters of Lough Erne will one day be con- 

 veyed by canal and pipe to some power station for distribution 

 for different purposes for many miles around the province. Again 

 Ave have other sources of power, and if these can be developed, 

 then Ireland will benefit to a very great extent. Ireland is 

 mainly an agricultural country, and if we could have cheap 

 fertilizers our agricultural pursuits would develop enormously. 

 We are a poor people, and the land is cultivated in a poor 

 fashion. In Germany four or five times the manure we use is 

 put into the soil, with the result that their crops in the past have 

 been more prolific. 



For the source of cheap power we turn to peat. The peat 

 itself is a source of nitrogen, and when the peat is carbonized the 

 nitrogen present can be recovered as ammonia, and in view of 

 the enormous peat moors which exist in the world the reserve 

 stock of nitrogen is very great. In Russia there is no less than 

 95,000,000 acres, in Finland 18| million acres, and in Ireland 

 l/7th of the whole country — about 2| million of acres is bog or 

 peat land. Hence the combustion of the peat itself will produce 

 huge quantities of ammonia sulphate, but the combustion from 

 the peat will also give us a power gas, which can be used for 

 industrial purposes or for the purpose of synthesizing ammonia 

 itself, by the use of atmospheric nitrogen. The problem has been 

 solved elsewhere. The peat gas is produced and utilized, and che 

 ammonia obtained as a bye-product. At Osnabriick, in Germany, 

 the peat gas is used by a central electrical power station, and 

 yields 3,000 H.P., whilst the reclaimed moorland can be 

 used for agricultural purposes. Therefore, a practical use 

 for the peat in this country is to convert it into gaseous fuel in 

 suitable gas producers. In this way you obtain the combustible 

 gases, ammonia, and some other important bye-products. There 

 is a plant of this type in use at Portadown belonging to the firm 



