FERTILIZER FALLACIES Sia,—In Viscount Samuel's review of the new Penguin
"Science In War," he says: "The scope for the increase of home production by scientific methods is immense. Note, for example, the single fact: the consumption of nitrogenous fertilizers Cm pounds of nitrogen) Per acre of arable land is 60.4 in Holland, 46.6 in Belgium, 22.6 in Germany, and 8.8 in Great Britain and Ireland." If the fertilizers on which these statistics are based are chemical fertilizers, the statement appears to have two fallacies in it. It implies that to use more of such fertilizers necessarily means more production of food, and that the application of science to agriculture and the use of more chemical fertilizers necessarily go together. If the statistic include the nitrogen supplied in farm manure, or muck, it is difficult to see how any exact figures could be obtained. The fact is, I suPPost, that every acre has its own nitrogen requirement, and it is worse to give too much than to give too little. There is nothing in the figures given to say' which country is following the wisest course.—'a0'
Previous page
