December, 1930
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
1407
A
B
C
Gypsum Added Without G.. v~rum Figure 3 4 o t t o n s e e d Meal Injury to Cotton Seedlings (16 Pounds Nitrogen per Arne) A-Planted immediately: B-planted after 4 dags; C q l a n t e d after S days
test the hypothesis that toxic concentrations of free ammonia might he evolved from decomposing organic ammoniates and that a calcium salt would control the injury. In its practical aspects it appear8 that high-grade organic ammoniates can safely be used to constitute a part of the nitrogen in mixtures with superphosphate where this does not involve a greater concentration of such nitrogen than would he found in applications equivalent to 16 pounds per acre in furrows 4 feet apart. On highly absorptive soils the injury might never occur, whereas on light, sandy mils it might reach serious proportions 8 8 a result of the injndicious use of the organic materials.
In concentrated mixtures free of calcium salts this type of injury can be avoided by the use of nitrogenous materials that do not produce free ammonia by hydrolysis or by hiological decomposition, hut the practice occasionally followed in the cotton-raising sections of mixing locally produced cottonseed meal with the commercial complete fertiliw would he decidedly inadvisable if calcium-free fertilizers become generally used. Literature Cited (1)
wiltis and Piland, Soil Scirnce. io pres$,
Monazite Markets and Prices The demand for monazite sand in the United Statps is limited t o the incandescent gas mantle and the pyrophoric-alloy industries, according t o the United States Bureau of Mines. Requirements far the manufacture of gas mantles have declined rapidly in recent years, while those for the manufacture of “flints” or sparking metal have increased considerably because of the more extensive use of automatic cigar lighters, gas lighters, miners’ lamps, etc. Despite the attempted monopoly of the manufacture of thorium nitrate by German and Austrian firms, France and the United States for some time previous t o the outbreak of the World War had been manufacturing this product chiefly from Brazilian and American monazite. As a result of the war and the serious shortage of thorium nitrate caused by the stoppage of ship-
ments from Germany, other countries took up the manufacture of this product. The price of monazite sand has fluctuated considerably since the war, in most cases reflecting the declining use of this mineral. During the war the price of monazite sand delivered to New York, exclusive of the duty of $80 a ton, varied from $25 t o $40 per unit (1 per cent per short ton) of thoria or from $150 to $240 per ton. Immediately after the wer the price was quoted (November, 1919) at $27 per unit, or about $162 per ton of the 6 per cent (thoria) sand, plus duty. Before the end of 1925 the price had dropped to $120 per ton. After increasing slightly during the Iatter part of 1928 t o $130 per ton. the price dropped in 1929 t o $60 B ton, the lowest figure so far recorded.
