UTILIZATION OF THE FISH WASTE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 6 
as the inorganic salt of ammonia, ammonium sulphate, the inorganic 
salts of nitric acid, sodium nitrate, and inorganic compounds of 
nitrogen, calcium cyanamid, or the organic compounds of nitrogen, 
contained in animal or vegetable refuse matter, cottonseed meal, 
abattoir tankage, or fish scrap. The usual commercial fertilizers con- 
tain these three elements and have the designation of " complete ferti- 
lizers. ,, These are sold under various brand names, the various brands 
frequently being recommended for particular crops. The propor- 
tion of the three essential ingredients is varied ; as a usual thing that 
of the phosphoric acid is considerably higher than the other two, 
which are present in about the same proportion. Thus, for example, 
a "6-2-2 mixture" contains 6 per cent phosphoric acid (P 2 5 ), 
2 per cent ammonia (NH 3 ), and 2 per cent potash (K 2 0). Its sell- 
ing price in the retail market is based on its analysis. Little atten- 
tion is paid to the source of these ingredients so long as the essen- 
tial compounds are " available," or readily may be decomposed or 
made soluble for the use of the plants. 
The Nation's supply of these three common ingredients of fertilizer 
may be summarized as follows : Of phosphoric acid there is an abun- 
dant supply in the large deposits of phosphate rock in Florida and 
Tennessee, and the enormous deposits of Idaho, Montana, and Wyo- 
ming. Of potash, now obtained exclusively from the German mines, 
there is little known in this country outside of the desiccated residues 
in Searles Lake, Cal., and the giant kelps of the Pacific littoral. In 
the latter there is much more than enough to supply the present 
demands of the fertilizer trade of the United States, the present an- 
nual consumption of potash being about 1,250,000 tons, of varied com- 
position. At present the kelps are not supplying any of this, since it 
has not been determined by actual experimentation on a commercial 
scale that they can be used economically as a source of potash. Esti- 
mates based on costs of similar operations indicate that they can be 
so used. Of " ammoniates " there is a large source in the ammonia 
produced as a by-product in the distillation of coal for the production 
of gas or coke, or both. This source is but partially developed, as by 
the methods most commonly practiced in this country this possible 
by-product is not recovered. The amount of ammonia now going to 
waste is almost large enough to supply all of the " ammoniates " 
now demanded by the fertilizer trade. The abattoirs supply a large 
amount of tankage and dried blood of high fertilizer value; but of 
these possible by-products there is still an enormous loss through the 
lack of organization and cooperation in the small-scale slaughter of 
animals for food. 
The present consumption of the various " ammoniates " and their 
relative contribution to the total amount of nitrogen used in the 
fertilizer industry are shown in the table following. 
