III4 Report OF THE Nitrogen Products Committee, [feb., 



food, and the vital importance of combined nitrogen for this 

 purpose, having emerged as one of the saUent lessons of the 

 later stages of the War. 



They state that the consumption of combined nitrogen 

 practically doubled in the ten .years before the War. In 

 evidence given before the Committee it was stated that owing 

 to advances upon the former backward state of scientific 

 knowledge concerning the use of nitrogenous fertilisers, the 

 future consumption could not be expected to continue to increase 

 at the same rate. The Committee are unable to agree with 

 this view for the following reasons : When account is taken of 

 the relative areas under cultivation in the food-producing 

 countries of the world, of the pre-war consumption of nitro- 

 genous fertilisers in the most progressive of the agricultural 

 countries, and of the corresponding consumption in the remain- 

 ing countries, it is abundantly clear that the quantities of 

 nitrogenous manures employed were in many cases below the 

 most advantageous or profitable level. The difficulties ex- 

 perienced during the War period in obtaining supplies have 

 already provided a salutary lesson as to the importance of 

 fertilisation, and the resulting wider recognition of the value 

 of fertilisers will lead to a large increase in the demand for 

 nitrogenous manures in countries where the consumption has 

 hitherto been very small in proportion to the area under 

 cultivation. In the opinion of the Committee, the provision 

 of a really cheap supply of fixed nitrogen, say, at £40 to ^45 

 per metric ton, or 8s. to gs. per unit, would lead to a greatly 

 extended consumption of nitrogenous fertilisers. 



Estimating the post-war requirements of the United Kingdom 

 the Committee state that, owing to the war policy of food pro- 

 duction, the agricultural demand for fixed nitrogen in the 

 form of ammonium sulphate and nitrates has attained at the 

 present time a figure of 60,000 tons per annum, as compared 

 with a pre-war consumption of 25,000 tons, and that there is 

 every prospect of a further increase in the immediate future. 

 From a general consideration of the prospects under a pro- 

 gressive agricultural policy and of a number of other factors 

 bearing on the question, they are of opinion that the future 

 consumption of artificial nitrogenous fertilisers in the United 

 Kingdom might amount to the equivalent of about half a 

 miUion tons of ammoniimi sulphate per annum, or 100,000 

 tons of fixed nitrogen. 



The Report concludes with a number of recommendations 

 as a minimum provision for safeguarding the future and for 



