12 P}'ofessui- Caldivcll — The Fixation of Nitrogen 



of Hamilton Kobb, Ltd. This installation is, it seems, very- 

 satisfactory, and effects a considerable saving in the coal bill. 

 The bye-products are allowed to go to waste ; nevertheless, it is 

 a commercial success. Recently plants have been devised to 

 recover the nitrogen as ammonium sulphate while the gas is used 

 to drive gas engines, which drive alternate current generators. 

 In another such plant in Italy a total i)0wer capacity of over 

 3,000 H.P. has been obtained, and the gas engines are coupled to 

 alternatoi-s. The current transmitted at a tension of 30,000 

 volts is distributed over an area of 25 miles radius. Therefore, 

 what one would naturally suggest is the establishment of a 

 ]H-oducer plant at or near the bog land itself, the conversion of 

 the mechanical power into electricity, and the transmission of the 

 energy at high pressure to the point Avhere it is wanted. This 

 method of using the peat, and the recovery of the land for 

 agricultural i)uri)oses, may be combined with some of the methods 

 for preparing or synthesizing ammonia or nitric acid, by the use 

 of atmospheric nitrogen. Our fertilizei's will be produced in 

 abundance, our lands will yield accordingly, and our people may 

 have such prosperity as a i-esult of the enterprise, as to cast 

 discontent aside and become as happy, as contented, as enter- 

 prising as our fellow-countrymen in the North of Ireland. 



