WHEN WHEAT FAILS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2074, 28 December 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

WHEN WHEAT FAILS.

THE GREAT WORK OF A NORWEGIAN SCIENTIST.

How electricity may be utilised to produce the fertilising agent-nitrate which will ensure the continuance of an adequate grain supply. (By Professor Silvnuis Thompson in “ Tho World’s Work.”)

Though man does not live by bread alone, it forms so essential n feature in the diet of the white races that tho possibility of a permanent shortage of wheat is a very serious question. With the growth of the wheat-eating nations. Hie demand tor wheat has increased, while the increase of territory under culture for wheat has hardly kept pace. Further, owing to tho (limitations of climate and soil tho time must not bo far distant when all the territory available for wheat-growing will be taken up. Even now much of the land devoted to wheat can be so utilised only by the stimulus of manures containing nitrogen, mainly compounds of ammonia and nitrates. But the nitrates which have been exported from India and Chili to an enormous extent for fertilising the wheat-fields are also limited in quantity. What will happen to. tho world's lood-supply when the inevitable stage of exhaustion is reached? Must the white races starve for want of bread, or, exchange their hei cdit-nry diet for the rice of the Hindu or tho mealie of the Kaffir? Is it a mere coincidence that the wheat-eating races have developed an energy of physique and an activity of brain that have made them masters over the non-wheat-eating races? That they will demand wheat is absolutely certain. It is equally certain that within a comparatively few years the demand will overtake the supply. What then?- Why, then, the resources of science and of human invention must be our resort. In the words of the famous dictum of our great chemist, Sir William Crookes, starvation may be averted through the laboratory.

succeed in raising 2f times as much or Danish farmers moro than 3.1 times ns much wheat per acre as the farmers of the United States, it might naturally bo hoped and oxpe'oted that by proper cultivation the average yield of the world over could be raised from 12) bushefs per aero to at least 20 if not 25 bushels per aero. Certainly the use of appropriate fertilisers counts for a great deal. Different crops need different manurial agonts; some need phosphates, some nitrogen, somo potash.

WHEAT’ REQUIRES NITROGEN either in the form of nitrates or nitrites, or else as ammonia. These materials exist as natural constituents of animal manures or products from them. Nitrate of potash as collected in India from, manurial 'soils is far too scarce to furnish a hundredth part of the need. The guano beds from the islands of the south of ammonia mado in our gasworks are nearly exhausted. The sulphate nrtificaliy is a powerful agent; but it cannot meet one-twentieth part of the demand. But the great staple fertiliser of to-day, without which even tho present extension of the world’s wheat-fields would have been impossible, is Chilian saltpetre—the nitrate of soda. Beds of this substance, the deposit of ages, occur as a crude native product in a narrow tract between- the Andes audtheshore hills of Chili. Of this material, extracted from the rough earthy caliche, more than a million tons arc exported every year all over the world. About 200 per cent of this output is used in the manufacture of nitric acid in order to afford the ingredients used in smokeless gunpowder and other explosives, celluloid, xveonito, artificial dyes and scents, and.other chemical products. Another sor six per cent, goes for fertilising tho beetroot crops for the sugar industry. The remainder, nearly 75 per cent ol the whole, is devotedto manuring hie wheat-fields.

Now this pregnant sentence is an intimation that, fadding tho supply of natural nitrates, the chemist must find a way to supply nitrates artificially. This problem, tho immenso importance of which fo tho progress and continuance of civilisation can hardly be overstated, lias lately assumed a now shape by tho invention of new processes for the manufacture of nitrates by the aid of electricity. For the atmosphere of our globe consists of nitrogen and oxygen, mixed together, but chemically uncombined. These gases are the constituents, along with water, of nitric acid, and therefore of ail nitrates. Tho difficulty is to force them into chemical combination. For a hundred years it has been known that- any mere electric spark will cause a minnto amount of nitrogen of tho air to enter into chemical combination' with oxygen. But the knowledge of how to effect this on a sufficient scale, and to genratc nitrates commercially, is a . recent achievement of science. This problem and its solution having been thus briefly stated, tho aim of the present article is to demonstrate the reality of the impending crisis in tho production of food-stuffs, and to describe the processes by which, with the aid of electric discharges, nitrates for the fertilisation of the wheat-fields may be manufactured from tho inert nitrogen of tho atmosjihero. It is only in countries within the temperate zones that wheat will grow; tho tropics and the arctic regions are not available. It is therefore possible, in view of the climatic and .geological conditions, to estimate tho total available acreage in the world, and this, including inaccessible regions such as Siberia, may be set down at not much more than 240,000,000 acres. At tho present average yield-of 12i bushels o! wheat per acre, this would .furnish an annual crop of 3,000,000,000 bushels ; and as each wheat-eater consumes on the average 40 bushels per annum (in which estimate 0.6 bushels needed for seeed are included), the whole available area will suffice to furnish wheat for a total population of 666,000,000 souls. Now a.t the present date of 1907 THE TOTAL NUMBER OF BREADEATERS —practically all the white races and a certain proportion jf men of other races in contact with the white races —may be estimated at 585,000,000, and it irises every year in an increasing ratio. According to the computations made in 1898 by Sir William Crookes, on whose investigations the question mainly rests, the number of bread-eaters rose from 371'millions in 1871 to 472 millions in 1891. In. 1911 it will be 603,700,000; in 1921 it will be 671 millions: an 1931, 746 millions, in 1941, 819 millions; in 1951, 893 millions. But the increase in tho acreage undei cultivation does not keep pac© with tho increase- of population. Tho total area under cultivation for wheat averaged 131,750,000 acres an. the years 1891 to 1895. Thus while the wheat-eating population increased 28.8 per cent: in twenty years, the acreage devoted to wheat-grow-ing bv only 23.7 per cent. Since 1900 the rate of increase ol breadcaters has been more than double that of the acreage under cultivatvation for wheat. Unless something can be -done to alter the conditions it is obvious that a shortage oi wheat is actually imminent. For it tue entire available territory w onlj sufficient to raise wheat tor 666,000,000 persons (which number will be at tained bv the natural increase m the wlieatreating population abou' the end of 1901), then either the consumption per head , must tlienceloiwaul mnst .be lessened, or else some means must be found to increase t o average yield per aoro above . .- present figure, namely 121 > ; i, pr aC re. Furthermore, it mu.,t remembered that when onco any territory has become cultivated up near its possible capacity for wheat, the acreage actually so u®o inevitably to decrease, tor as nowns grow up, the land once brought -wto cultivation is needed for oU>er ' nnd -I shrinkage of wheat-grow ,oro p s, and a stmni jn tho 0 _ mg area cn&Je resulfc c f the vmce ot Ontario, the acrea ge SlSrtwt cultivation decreased by ' cent between the years 1880 and 1 1893 Land brought quite refor l r^r'stalt to submit to a serious chant . diet, or substituto lenfffi., “rfkvSSSTWrrvr pro ACRE. , tjc In different regions owing ference of soil, chmatc and mcHioUs of cultivation, the > ielt J . ;i e ] v per acre differs somewhat widely in tho United States •yidlcT is about 12 bushels per .acre and ill Argentina about 13, e therefore, near to» «^|°ilolltiemed nan Li > liußa, Russia, South Australia, and Algeria the average •field is only about 9 bushels pm "acre. In t'anada the average is 15?.. In Continental Europe flic yield rises from 16 in Austria and 181- in Hungary to 23 m Germany and 23 in Norway. Jn the ftitjlc plains of Now Zealand it rises to 2oJ. In the wheat-fidlds of Great Britain and Ireland it reaches 29, while ill ' the splendidly tilled kingdom of Denmark it actually attains 41.8 bushels -.iper aero. If English farmers can

Sir William- Crookes gives the following strking instance of the value of nitrate of soda as a manurial agent: . ~ “The actiou of nitrate of soda in .improving tho yield of wheat has been studied practically by Sir John Lawes and Sir Henry Gilbert on their experimental field at Rothamstead. This field was sown with wheat for thirteen consecutive! years without manure, and yielded an average of 11.9 -bushels to tho acre. For the next thirteen years it was sown with wheat and dressed with fivo hundredweight of nitrate of soda per acre, other mineral constituents also being present. The average yield for these years was 36.4 bushels per-acre—an increase of 24.5 bushels. In other words, 22.56 pounds of nitrate of soda produce an increase of one buslie! of wheat.’

Let us pause to consider tho effect of these statistics. Assuming that the average yield all the world ovei could bo raised from 12) to 20 bushels per acre by a corresponding fise of nitrades, the additional 7) biishols will require 166 pounds of nitrate of soda for each acre. If the present acreagebe taken at 175,000,00(3, then, even without any increase of territory, the quantity of nitrate needed would mount up- to no less a figure than 12,000,000 tons per annum !

Now , THE RESERVE OF CHILI NITRATE,

vast as it is, cannot possibly meet this gigantic demand. The output of these mines has grown from a.,-..nt 25,000 tons per annum in 1850, to over 1) million tons in 1906; and at the present rate the mines will pe exhausted in a period estimated by various authorities at from sixteen to forty-eight years from the present time. Clearly, though the wheatfamine may be staved off for a time by drawing on the saltpetre beds ot Chili, it is but for a time. And then the world must And somo other source of nitrogen for fertiliser, or starve. Now nitrogen exists in vast •uiantities in the atmosphere, four-fifths of the air consisting of it. The total quantity of it in the atmosphere of the globe is about four trillions oi tons. But this nitrogen, being in the “free’ or uncom-bined- state, is inert. It is absolutely worthless as a fertiliser. Owing to its feeble chemical affinities it is with difficulty made-to combine either with oxygen to form nitrates or with hydrogen to form ammonia. “Fixed” nitrogen in either of these forms is a very valuable commodity; but the trouble is to fix the free gas. While carbon and sulphur and hydrogen readily “burn” —that is, enter into combination with ox? gen, giving out heat in the process,A nitrogen refuses to burn with oxygen. It is perhaps as well for us that it should be so, or else THE VERY FIRST FLAME STRUCK

by the first primitive savage would h ive set the entire atmosphere ablaze, anil the world would have been bathed in an atmosphere of corrosive anil poisonous nitrous fumes I Yet since nitrates and nitrites exist, it is clear that .nitrogen can be made to enter into combination with oxygen, it is now moro than 150 years since tho famous G'aver.ilish discovered that the electric spark passing through air can “fix” a certain small fraction ox nitrogen as nitric oxide. Fifteen years ago (Sir AVilliam Crookes exhibited an experiment on the flame burning nitrogen, tile combustion ueiing maintained by supplying the flame with electric energy by an alternating cm rent of electricity supplied at a high voltage. In fact, while in ordinary combustion as, tor instance, of carbon with oxygen, heat is given out, in this forced combustion of nitrogen heat is absorbed, and the combination can only go on while energy is being pumped in electrically. Noting this, Sir AVilliam Crookes with characteristic prevision pointed out in 1898 that this experiment suggested a possible • SOLUTION OF THE FOOD PROBLEM; and he reminded his audience that though electric energy generated hv steam-engines or .gas-engines mi'dii. bo too costlv, water-power, as at Niagara, furnished a cheaper source. Ho estimated that if electric energy could be obtained at as low a once as one-sevenfeontli of a penny T-tr unit (i.e., per kilowatt-hour), nitrate of soda might bo manufactured at tho prico of £5 per ton, Chili saltpetre being then £7 10s nor ton. H has since advanced to £ll per .on. He added that while it was l.ojy.olc as a scientific- matter to fix a oe: nui amount of atmospheric nitrogen by several methods, no process Jail yo.. been used except on a Jinan and none bad at that vears a«'o—been brought to tho notice of "scientific or commercial vu-v which could bo considered .-"ccesslul as regards cither cost- or yie.d or proBut in nine years much hay be achieved. Chemist, electric in, ana engineer, working in collaboration, u tn modern appliances and wim an ai.liquate natural supply of water-pon'-v, niav accomplish much.—have accomplished much, indeed—though the achievement is still in its inlaney.. 1 or while various skilled mven. ors naj e been at work in various i ails ot the world, and various b.ne been announced as more or .wss successful for fixing atmospheric nr.ioeen, three aro actually tu uerk on r, commercial scale. In. aepc.aud a company is manufacturing cyanide of soda P for treating auriferous quarts l tho golil-muung industry, lu Berlin, Professor Frank is absorbing iiitrooen byhneans of carbide of calcium (itself a product of the electric furnace) to form cyanamide. Li „-ny a fully equipped factory lias bev'i at work for two whole ycai-v t.i? nj n , r out Norwegian saltpetre, the nitrate of li»«,b.v the direct/? roee« ot T? II RiS IhS Cir 11 ROC» A SPECIAL ELECTRIC FURNACE, absorbing the nitrous fumes in natei as nitric acid, and combining the aeiil with lime to furnish a marketable product. .. , Since in this process nitrates aie directly produced from the a tin os-

.phoro, and the manufacture is on a commercial scale, some detailed 1 account of this, tho first factory lor llu> electric production of nitrates, will have moro than a luoroly technical interest. Tho process is duo to tho genius of Professor Kristian Birlcoland of Christiania, aided- l>y the mechanical skill and organising capacity of Samuel Eyde, an engineer of tho same city. Birkoland, who has for many years mado a study of the aurora borealis, has from time to tiino devised experiments to elucidate auroral phenomena, in the course -of which lie investigated tho action of tho magnetic field upon electric discharges of various kinds. Amongst other things ho discovered tho separation or dispersion of the Katluxlo beam, in a highly exhausted vacuum tube, under tho influence of a magnet, into a sort of spectrum. After ten years of such work he was led to examine the singular action of a transverse magnetic field upon an electric arc formed when an alternating electric current is passing between the tips of two conducting-rods or cectrodes. Under these conditions the arc or flame instead of loi-m ling ft luminous jet about one-quar-ter inch long, spreads out laterally into a series of curvilinear sire.ims which enlarge themselves into A ROARING DISC OF FLAME Such a flame, an electric aro blown out. magnetically into a disc, Bi-up-land enclosed tu tin iron Lini.iao lined with fire-clay, with suitable f j> ertures through which a stream of air could be passed. Tho air which emerges after passing through this electric flame is rich in orange-cohi-ed nitrous fuinos. After being cook i it is sent into a series of absorption chambers, -built of granite, insido which water trickles down, absorbing the fumes a nil making a very pure nitric acid of increasing as it passes from tower to tower. This acid is absorbed by treating it with limestone and caustic lime, thus producing nitrate of lime, which is concentrated and packed in canisters. After erecting at first a small experimental plant of 25 horse-power, and then a larger one of 160 horsepower, an experimental -station of 660 horse-power was set u-p near Aroiulal in the couth of Norway. Then a site was chosen for the erection of a factory at Notodden in the- Hittersdnl, where a neighboring waterfall, the Tinnfos, furnished some 2400 horse-power, while the lake beside which tho factory stands affords wa-ter-carriage to Christiania or to Hamburg. Tho factory was conceived on a scale capable of turning out from 3000 to 5000 tons per annum, lieforo it had been at work six months plans were called for to enlarge it to increase the outii-ut tenfold. For the necessary power another waterfall, the Svaclgfos, higher up on the same stream, was seared, and the barrage was begun a few months later. In the gorge of the stream a new power-house was erected capable of affording 26,000 horse-power. But other projects for further developments are on the .wav. THE NORWEGIAN NITRATE COMPANY has acquired powers for another waterfall at Boiiefos near Arendai, with about 25,000 horse-power, an-other-of 40,000 horse-power at Wamni! oil tile Swedish border, and for a still more important installation at tho Rjukanfos in the heart of Norway. This winter, the work of harnessing which has already been begun, will yield a steady minimum output of 22,000 liorsc-power. Some yeirs must necessarily claps.© berore tho whole of this can be utilised. These Norwegian falls do -not freeze up in winter, and all of them are fed from lakes that form natural reservoirs. Besides these, a site with wa-ter-power has been secured in Italy, where another factory is being built. The cost of electric energy at these Norwegian sites is rem irka-bly low. The power at Notodden costs the ge-nerating-station about ten kroners per horse-power year, which equals about 0.025 of a penny per unit. The estimated cost of the supply from the Svnelgfos is 0.0151 of a penny per, unit. The nitrate of lime produced is found in practice to he quite equal in fertilising power to the commercial Chilian saltpetre; and reckoned in terms of the prices at which the latter can be delivered at Hamburg

or Christiania, the manufacturing cost of the Norwegian product is not much more than half as great.

Here, then, is a great new : ''du-.-try to meet the evernearing crisis in the agricultural world.- In the ancient scheme iof things, our ancestors reckoned out four elements —air, water, earth, v d fire. It is but a coincidence, yet significant, that for the making of the new fertiliser that is to rede mi our wheat-fields from impoverish ment, four elements are also needed, anil all are to be hail in the favoured spot where tho nitrate-factory has been erected —air, water, lime, and electric fire, a fire itself riven by mail’s genuis from the water-power in which Norway abounds.