Abstract
ONE of the minor misfortunes to the cause of the Allies, coming through no fault of their own, has been the landslide in the Panama Canal, which has interfered with the import of nitrate of soda from Chile by prolonging the time of the voyage. Nitrates are, of course, required in enormous quantities for explosives, but a very considerable amount of nitrate of soda—no less than 100,000 tons per annum—is used in agriculture for manurial purposes. No modern farmer would like to try to do without it; indeed, any increase in food production almost necessarily means an increase in nitrate consumption. Yet Mr. Acland recently stated in the House of Commons that the quantity now in this country, or on the way to it, was only about 30,000 tons.
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The Supply of Nitrates . Nature 96, 372 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/096372a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/096372a0