NON-SYMBIOTIC NITROGEN FIXATION 139 



Moreover, synthetic nitrogen compounds not only compete 

 with natural ammonia and nitrates in quantity but they are com- 

 peting with them in price as well and have actually driven from 

 the market the natural product. In Germany "one German elec- 

 tric firm with aid from the city of Berlin recently contracted to 



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Fig. 29. — Nitrogen produced by various processes and then consumed. 



provide 66,000,000 pounds of fixed nitrogen a year at a cost 

 of three cents a pound for the next twenty-five years/' 



The supply from this source at the present time is adequate, 

 but such nitrogen usually costs the farmer about twenty cents a 

 pound. At this rate the nitrogen in a bushel of wheat would 

 cost thirty cents, in a ton of beets one dollar, and in a ton of 

 alfalfa hay ten dollars. Is there no other source to which the 

 farmer can turn? Virgin soil received its nitrogen from other 

 sources, namely, the microscopic plants. 



Development of Our Knowledge. — It has been known for 



