34 
Oxidation  of  Nitrogen. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    January,  1915. 
ing  80  Gms.  of  nitric  acid  to  be  made  per  kilowatt  hour,  we  should 
have  an  energy  consumption  of  about  5  (10) 13  ergs,  or  an  efficiency  of 
about  4  per  cent. 
Nitrogen  Fixation  and  Our  Economic  Life. 
The  small  percentage  efficiency  of  the  present  methods  for  oxidiza- 
tion compared  with  the  theoretical  efficiency  indicates  that  improve- 
ments in  the  present  methods  would  yield  most  important  results. 
At  the  present  time  sodium  nitrate  sells  for  about  $45  per  ton.  If  the 
efficiency  of  the  oxidation  method  could  be  increased  so  that  calcium 
nitrate  could  be  sold  for  $6  or  $8  per  ton,  it  would  change  our  eco- 
nomic life  fundamentally.  Food  products  would  be  greatly  decreased 
in  value,  real  intensive  farming  could  be  pursued,  suburban  homes 
could  easily  be  made  self-supporting,  and  "  abandoned  "  farms  could 
be  reclaimed.  Probably  no  other  one  scientific  development  would  so 
materially  add  to  the  material  well-being  of  the  people  as  this. 
One  of  the  reasons  for  the  high  cost  of  living  is  the  fact  that  our 
soil  fertility  is  difficult  to  maintain.  Continued  cropping  will  even- 
tually impoverish  the  most  fertile  soils  if  the  crops  are  not  replaced. 
Cheap  nitrogen  fertilizers  will  not  only  practically  restore  virgin  fer- 
tility, but  will  permit  of  the  continual  removal  of  crops.  In  this 
way  the  percentage  of  the  crops  that  can  be  removed  from  the  soil  will 
be  very  much  greater  than  under  present  conditions. 
The  cheapening  of  nitrogen  fertilizers  will  permit  of  doubling, 
trebling,  or  even  more  greatly  increasing  farm  crops.  In  addition  to 
these  results,  cheap  nitrogen  fertilizers  will  permit  a  very  much 
greater  percentage  of  crops  to  be  removed  from  the  farms.  Cheap 
nitrogen  fertilizers  will  also  permit  of  the  most  intensive  farming  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  industrial  centres,  thus  lessening  the  time 
and  cost  of  food  distribution. 
Surely  the  problem  of  nitrogen  fixation  should  appeal  to  every 
one  interested  in  the  conservation  of  our  resources.  Our  waterfalls 
represent  an  equivalent  of  nitrogen  salt  continuously  going  to  waste 
instead  of  being  used.  And,  surely,  work  of  this  kind  is  of  greater 
importance  than  the  building  of  dreadnoughts  or  the  training  of 
armies. 
