New aspects of the nitrogen problem

ABSTRACT SIR WILLIAM CROOKES'S disturbing pronouncement, made in 1898, on the subject of the approaching failure of the world supply of wheat for lack of combined nitrogen, lives in the

memory of many “Are we to go hungry and to know the trial of scarcity?” he asked, and added, “those present who may a trend the meeting of the British Association Thirty years hence will

judge how far my forecasts are justified.” Naturally, a negative answer to his question was given at the British Association meeting last year, but had he said “sixty years hence,” no one

would have dared to give a confident reply. On the other hand, his prophecy in regard to the manufacture of combined nitrogen has come true. Led by Germany, nearly every civilised country in

the world is actively producing synthetic fertilisers. Now, it should be noted that Crookes confined his attention to the need for nitrogen in the production of wheat. Recent events in the

agricultural world, however, justify some consideration being given to a wider aspect of the nitrogen problem; for, as a recent writer has said, the sum total of life upon this planet is

limited by the amount of available nitrogen in combination; important as wheat is in human dietetics, the supply of _meat_ is equally vital. The farmer everywhere is in fact engaged in the

manufacture and marketing of combined nitrogen in one form or another. He _buys_ nitrogen in the form of manures and feeding stuffs, and markets it again as corn, meat, or milk. He _makes_

nitrogen when he sows clover and other leguminous plants; and he _conserves_ it for future use when he lays his land down in grass. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a

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ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE New Aspects of the Nitrogen Problem. _Nature_ 120, 69–71 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/120069a0 Download citation * Issue Date: 16 July 1927 * DOI:

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