146 
Atmospheric  Nitrogen. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     March,  1913. 
Rocky  Mountain  and  Pacific  Coast  States,  while  the  supply  of 
longleaf  is  fast  melting  away.  A  product  very  similar  to  turpentine 
can  be  obtained  also  from  pinon  pine,  another  tree  common  in  the 
southwest. 
Careful  tests  made  by  the  Department  have  shown  that  the  yield 
of  turpentine  and  rosin  per  season  from  western  yellow  pine  in 
Arizona  is  only  two-thirds  that  from  the  southeastern  pine,  the 
difference  being  due  to  the  fact  that  the  season  of  flow  in  the  west  is 
about  25  weeks,  and  in  the  south  about  33  weeks.  During  the  Civil 
War,  when  turpentining  operations  in  the  south  had  virtually 
ceased,  some  operations  were  carried  on  in  California  to  meet  local 
needs.  But  with  the  return  of  the  southern  product  to  the  California 
market,  the  western  operations  were  abandoned. 
The  results  of  a  chemical  examination  of  the  oils  of  western 
yellow,  pinon,  digger,  sugar,  and  lodgepole  pines  which  have  just 
been  published  by  the  Forest  Service  in  an  official  bulletin  show  the 
possibilities  of  the  rosin  and  turpentine  from  western  yellow  and 
pinon  pines  as  a  supplement  to  the  present  supplies.  Economic 
problems  of  markets,  transportation,  and  labor  remain  to  be  solved. 
Information  as  to  how  the  Forest  Service  secured  the  yields  upon 
which  the  analyses  were  based  is  given  in  another  bulletin  on  the 
possibilities  of  western  pines  as  a  source  of  naval  stores. 
UTILIZATION  OF  ATMOSPHERIC  NITROGEN. 
A  bulletin,  giving  the  results  of  investigations  of  chemical  in- 
dustries made  by  Consul  Thomas  H.  Norton,  of  Chemnitz,  Germany, 
detailed  as  commercial  agent  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor,  has  been  issued  recently  by  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Commerce.  It  is  entitled,  "  Utilization  of  Atmospheric 
Nitrogen,"  and  deals  with  the  efforts  that  are  being  made  to  release 
the  manufacturing  and  agricultural  interests  of  the  world  from  de- 
pendence upon  natural  sources  of  nitrates,  particularly  the  saltpeter 
deposits  of  Chile.  The  most  decided  progress  is  being  made  by 
chemists  in  Germany,  Scandinavia,  France,  Switzerland,  and 
Austria,  and  the  bulletin  furnishes  as  accurate  and  comprehensive 
data  as  possible  of  the  results  thus  far  obtained  by  European 
chemists  in  their  efforts  to  increase  the  supply  of  nitrogen. 
Copies  of  this  bulletin  (Special  Agents  Series  No.  52)  may  be 
obtained  upon  application  to  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 
Commerce,  at  Washington. 
