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Show PIONEER FERTILIZER MINED ON BARREN LANDS IN CHILE Introduction to the United States In 1830 Marked the First Use on Farm Lands. New York. The first hundred years In the use. of commercial fertilizers can now be recorded In the agricultural history of the United States. The practice of using a mineral fertilizer was started In 1830 when the first shipment of nitrate of soda was brought to this country. ' Up to that time -only lime and marl of the inorganic substances now commonly com-monly used for agricultural purposes pur-poses were known to tne early farmers. Used continuously since that time, nitrate of soda Is now recognized as the oldest of the present-day commercial fertilizers. Although nitrate of soda has become be-come a commonplace article on farms throughout the country, It Is not generally known that one of the romances of modern civilization civiliza-tion Is woven around this fertilizer. It Is a product of a barren desert, high in the Andes mountains of northern Chile. There Is no rain or vegetation In the entire nitrate zone, which occupies a region nearly near-ly as large as the combined area of New York and Pennsylvania. Not a blade of grass springs from the soil, beneath which Is one of the most Important fertilizing com-' pounds known to nature. The nitrate ore is found at various vari-ous depths below the surf nee. the avenge being about three feet. It varies In richness from 5 to 70 per cent sodium nitrate. Open-cut mining min-ing is practiced In removing the ore, after which it is transported to a refiniug plant erected nearby on the desert. The refining of the ore is an extremely technical process. The objective of the operations, bow-ever, Is to remove the Impurities Impuri-ties from the ore and to concentrate concen-trate the sodium nitrate , so that when ready for shipment the fertilizer fer-tilizer contains 96 to 99 per cent sodium nitrate and analyzes 15.5 per cent nitrogen. Iodine, which Is also present in the ore. Is a byproduct by-product of the refining process. Small quantities of this element are found in the fertilizer, as are also traces of boron and magnesium. Conservative estimates by geologists geolo-gists nnd engineers In Chile indicate indi-cate that the deposits are of sufficient suffi-cient size to supply the needs of the world for generations to come. |