6 BULLETIN 37, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
of 20.5 per cent, is equivalent to 243,335 tons of nitrogen. The 
amount of nitrate of soda, 2,490,121 tons, shipped from Chile that 
year, on the basis of a nitrogen content of 15 per cent, is equivalent 
to 373,500 tons of nitrogen. Of the total amount of nitrogen obtained 
from Chile niter and ammonium sulphate, that from niter is equal to 
60 per cent of the whole and that from ammonium sulphate 40 per 
cent. Since more of the former than of the latter is used for purposes 
other than agricultural, it is probable that the production of nitrogen 
for fertilizer purposes from coal distillation is greater than that from 
the Chile nitrate beds. If this is not true at present, it is expected 
that the increased use of the by-product coke oven shortly will bring 
it to pass. 
The world's output in ammonium sulphate during 1912 is given by 
countries in Table VII, in which the United States appears third in 
point of output. 1 
Table YII. — World's production of ammonium sulphate, 1912. 
Country. 
Germany 
England 
United States 
France 
Produc- 
tion. 
Tons. 
465, 000 
379, 000 
155, 000 
68, 500 
Country. 
Belgium 
Spain. Italy, other countries 
Total 
Produc- 
tion. 
Tons. 
49,500 
170,000 
1,287,000 
Ammonium sulphate as a stimulator of plant growth compares 
favorably with sodium nitrate. While it is generally believed that 
the nitrate of soda is more immediately available for plant assimila- 
tion than the sulphate of ammonia, the two give practically the same 
results as fertilizers. The sulphate possesses a slight advantage 
in being a somewhat more nitrogenous body than the nitrate, con- 
taining 20 per cent nitrogen against the 15 per cent contained by the 
nitrate. 
The development of the ammonium-sulphate industry is possible 
in two directions: In the displacement of beehive ovens by by- 
product recovery ovens, and in the development of the coking 
industry, with the utilization, of course, of the by-product ovens. 
There is no good reason, should the fertilizer industry demand it, 
why the entire amount of ammonia now thrown away annually 
in the coking industry should not be rendered available. In addi- 
tion to these two particulars in which the production might be in- 
creased mention should be made of other possible sources of ammonia 
which have been suggested, such as the distillation of oil shales, 
peat, garbage, and the sludge obtained in sewage-disposal plants. 
i Cf. J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 5, 253 (1913). 
