Show i I NITRATE INSURES s 1 LARGE CROP Chilean Beds Will Be Ex Exhausted Exhausted Exhausted hausted in From Twenty Y to Fifty Years Washington Nov 6 It was not until Sir William Crooks the great British scientist sounded a IL note of alarm about a decade ago regarding a shortage In Inthe Inthe inthe the worlds wheat supply that tha serious rIous attention was directed to the ft problem r b e T Nitrate as a fertilizer is Is the open n sesame to large crops Consequently the world has haa faced for many years a Ii rapidly Increasing demand with a rapidly diminishing supply It has bas been axiomatic axiomatic axiomatic matic that upon nitrogen depended the maintenance of ot the wheat crop at its present proportions The population of the world is in Teasing so rapidly rapid Sir William Brooks c rooks said that the supply of ot wheat will shortly not be sufficient to feed It ItI ItI itI I predict the approaching exhaustion of the worlds stock of fixed nitrogen the great fertilizer for tor wheat used In ever increasing quantities He added that the nitrate beds of Chill Chili which are ar the Bole source of the worlds supply would possibly last fifty lt years ears if l used at the rate of ot a million tOns tOnsa a year but he foresaw Its entire exhaustion exhaustion exhaustion tion inside of ot twenty years There Is but one solution It is thought the manufacture of ot nitrogen from air When it Is realized that land yielding but bushels per acre with without without I out nitrogen fertilizer will produce bushels with it it the importance of the problem is seen een Scientists fully fUll realize they are battling with one of ot the vital problems of human existence and have set out to conquer it in that spirit Limitless Supply Ten years has seen such SUcil radical proc progress ress reas In chemistry that the element la is be bet being beIng ing ng artificially produced now and ald In a afew afew afew few years years more th Chilean ChiI an beds will become be come tome a small factor In the total supply The problem scientists claim Is solved The raw product Is the atmosphere which contains exhaustless quantities of ot nitro nitrogen nitrogen nitrogen gen That this source is limitless may be beI Teen peen from the fact that there Is enough nitrogen over each square mile of the th earths surface to produce more niter than Is s to be found in all Chill Chili The secret of extracting nitrogen from the air at such a cost as to make it commercially valuable has been learned Plainly Mainly speaking nitrogen is manufactured by treating the air to an ele hrc Turkish bath involving a heat of ot manse mans p thousand degrees degree Enormous power Is icy required and unless it ft Is cheap the is Impracticable Under present conditions water wat pow power er or alone is low enough In cost to tomake tomake make artificial nitrogen a commercial proposition Comparatively few coun countries coun countries o hi tries have this power In sufficient hint measure to provide the output required and not so many years ago apo a olt It was not n t known that the United States hadit h d It Since then theu however the water power question has assumed a new phase ase t and what seemed see ed a dream then hasibe come almost n a commonplace c today Germany and Sweden were wera t countries to avail themselves of the I new process Scandinavia js rich in water power and proved an ad admirable admirable admirable mirable field fl id for experimentation There are aro now Under construction c n processes will utilize horse hors power The plants plant have proven I a commercial success and have haye led to toft tot toI I ft t movement to establish the nitrogen manufacture on a great g reat scale s c I CUtTY f This is the point where the tire a strUggle tr i t L 1 U of certain allied interests to obtain a monopoly of water powers Inthe he west becomes s a total factor The Th normal development of Q nitrogen plants ts has been There can be no r absorption of ot power sites has mere more merely merely morel l ly delaye i the Inevitable To have the manufacture of ot artificial nitrogen rit fall n into the hands blinds of ot a trust would be lie a ac calamity c When Wb n Chilean nitrogen be beS b S 1 comes coines scarce there th e will be t ii a i hue and cry from the th American fluster farmer r He will j i the ot the fight tight for water vowed It redounds greatly to the credit of ur t t the chemist and technologist C that tied the problem has been SPIed solved iT The he a tb to come will doubtless see better efficient methods than tho those thoe o now n w in use but technically the problem has been conquered d bg X P a fir jl No one scientist Is la given the credi red t for this for tor the theP principle of extracting extrac J nitrogen n from tha toe air was loaf ago established and It remained Only for modern RI dern science Cf to reduce redU CIt it to th the par pur purposes Yr poses of commerce Jt baa daRe daae The United Un S States States annually about short ton tons of a year Ear of O which aHmit tone la Ie ased 8 for feir agricultural purposes Fully per fler percent cent of Is lar u d In iu the s nufa t r t f l te l lv V 4 c It enters largely Into the I processes r of enameling Ung glass matting malting pickling pc rind and the manufacture of O f minor r chemicals ba bart bat b the farmers farmer Interest e t In Inis J I rt itro eft is mere Blore vital than any other I It is b lie he who should hOuld see ace Ce to it that the then I n ew w Industry try In tin this country count is hi prop ro developed and the Importation Importation n of of ot I ea thus Slowly but surely de decreased creased It constitutes one of the I reasons aa why the water w tor It 3 7 of 1 h he shOUld n act o 1 b be e I t to r far t a 1 Into futo the bands ha rt monopoly fo tv l the prospects p of utu d are aae a aJ ost I beyond eon ut fl |