SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.")
Sia,—The dominant factor in agriculture is to maintain the fer- tility of the soil. Prior to the war, for every cargo of nitrate that entered Liverpool ten were discharged in the Hamburg docks. To-day not a single bag of Chilean nitrate finds its way to fertilize the sandy plains of Pomerania. How is it then that Germany in 1918 is enabled to maintain the fertility of her fields at pre-war level ? The answer to this query is, Germany now manufactures her ammonia from the atmosphere. America is erecting a steam- power plant of 30,000 horse-power for the fixing of atmospheric nitrogen. Is it not time that we took a leaf out of the American book and tapped our immense supplies of atmospheric nitrogen? As the largest user of artificial manures for corn-growing in England, I may state that unless a manure contains a good per- centage of ammonia it has little value for cereal .crops.—I am,
Previous page
