(See also supplementary hearing on Emergency Conservation Work (C. C. C. Camps) held by this subcommittee on Jan. 27, 1936.)

MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1936.

FERTILIZER OPERATIONS AT MUSCLE SHOALS

STATEMENT OF DR. C. H. KUNSMAN, CHIEF, DIVISION OF FERTILIZER RESEARCH

Mr. CANNON. Dr. Kunsman, you are familiar with the T. V. A. program?

Dr. KUNSMAN. To a certain extent. I have some general information on their program. I would like to make the following statement, Mr. Chairman: With the development of the Tennessee Valley Authority, certain of the Bureau's work and personnel were transferred to the Tennessee Valley Authority, and at the present time the same cordial cooperative relations exist between the Bureau and the Tennessee Valley Authority as exist between the Bureau and other Government agencies and State experiment stations.

Mr. CANNON. You have no direct official connection with the management of the plant at Muscle Shoals?

Dr. KUNSMAN. We have no connection with it whatsoever.
Mr. CANNON. That is entirely under the T. V. A.?

Dr. KUNSMAN. Yes, sir.

Mr. CANNON. We will be glad to have you continue your statement. Dr. KUNSMAN. At their request, we have furnished the officials of the T. V. A. with the results of the Bureau's fertilizer researches and investigations since it has been in existence; and they are informed in connection with new processes and new methods of analysis as rapidly as the results are compiled-first, in the form of data and reports and then in the form of publications.

Mr. CANNON. Do you know to what extent they have taken advantage of these data, and to what extent they have utilized the information in a practical way?

Dr. KUNSMAN. Only in a general way. I have no specific information on that. As I stated on Saturday, we were invited to visit their plant, which we did with a great deal of interest.

Mr. CANNON. They announced, at the beginning that their purpose was to cheapen the production of fertilizer and to provide a domestic product which would make it unnecessary to import fertilizers from the outside. What progress are they making in that direction?

Dr. KUNSMAN. Both in connection with the nitrogen situation and phosphoric acid, I believe I can best answer the question by calling your attention to curves showing the growth of the atmosphericnitrogen industry throughout the world since it was established. Since the fixed-nitrogen industry was established, you will find here the actual relative growth of the industry in tons against the years involved.

The curves show that from a total production of less than 10,000 tons of fixed nitrogen in 1910 the production rapidly grew to more than 1,200,000 tons in 1934. It may also be seen that, although the arc process and cyanamid process were alone responsible for the

10,000-ton production in 1910, production by the synthetic-ammonia process, soon after its introduction in 1913, outstripped combined production by the two other processes, and has been practically entirely responsible for the remarkable growth shown by the curve of total fixation.

PRODUCTION OF ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN

Mr. TARVER. I am interested in your graph showing the world production of atmospheric nitrogen and the production of Chilean nitrate from 1923 to 1933. I notice in 1923 the world production of atmospheric nitrogen appears to have been slightly in excess of 400,000 tons, and in 1932-33 the production appears to have risen to 1,299,000 tons, and then on the line indicating 1932-33 there is a pencil notation to the right of 1,351,000 tons. What year does that designate?

Dr. KUNSMAN. That is for the year 1933 and 1934. I am sorry that it is not legible.

Mr. TARVER. What was the world production in 1935 of atmospheric nitrogen?

Dr. KUNSMAN. From figures for 1934-35, now available, it is preliminarily estimated to be 1,600,000 tons. You see, the figures have got to be gathered from the entire world, and more exact figures will not be available until probably within the next 9 months or a year. The 1933-34 figures were just available within the last few months.

Mr. TARVER. What was the atmospheric nitrogen produced in the United States in the year 1934?

Dr. KUNSMAN. The details of that are not given out by the companies. I can give you an estimate of 140,000 tons of nitrogen.

Mr. TARVER. How can you arrive at the amount of atmospheric nitrogen produced in the world that year without knowing what was produced in the United States?

Dr. KUNSMAN. On the following estimates, and note these are estimates, that production was 45 to 50 percent of 290,000 to 300,000 tons fixed nitrogen, the estimated fixation capacity in this country at the present time.

Mr. TARVER. There is only one company in the country that produces it, is there not?

Dr. KUNSMAN. No; there are a number of companies that produce it. The bigger part of it is produced by two companies, and there are roughly a half a dozen other smaller companies that produce some.

Mr. TARVER. You mean that you have no facilities for finding out exactly how much they produce, and that you have to rely upon the estimated capacity of their plants for your information?

Dr. KUNSMAN. No such facilities exist to get the exact production. The prices that we get are those quoted in the journals, for example. Urea recently came on the market. That is a new fertilizer material which is being quoted in such journals.

Mr. CANNON. That is used extensively in the fertilization of golf courses?

Dr. KUNSMAN. Only partly so, but it is a very desirable nitrogenous material.

Mr. CANNON. It is too expensive to be used in ordinary agricultural activities?

Dr. KUNSMAN. It is going to be used, and it has gone into certain fertilizers during the last year. I would like to show you samples where we have actually added urea and an urea-ammonia mixture to mixed fertilizers. The price of crystalline urea is 10 cents a pound on the nitrogen basis at present, where ammonia is 51⁄2 and cyanamid is 6 cents, and fish scrap, animal tankage, dried blood, and cottonseed meal varying from 12 to 15 cents. Urea is now available and going into fertilizer at that price to a certain extent.

Mr. TARVER. What was the annual production of atmospheric nitrogen in the United States in 1923?

Dr. KUNSMAN. In 1923?

Mr. TARVER. Yes.

Dr. KUNSMAN. In 1923, there was a relatively small tonnage produced. That was about the time industry was beginning to become interested in nitrogen fixation.

Mr. TARVER. Can you give us any idea of what you mean by "relatively small tonnage", in figures?

Dr. KUNSMAN. Yes; 6,000 tons of nitrogen.

Mr. TARVER. During what year did the production of atmospheric nitrogen in this country assume substantial proportions? Dr. KUNSMAN. We have the data available on that. I do not recall the figures at present, but that can be inserted in the record. (The statement follows:)

Mr. TARVER. I notice there has been a substantial decrease in the amount of Chilean nitrate which has been imported into this country since 1928, at which time it appears to have reached a peak of something in excess of 500,000 tons according to this graph. It went down to 85,000 tons for 1933-34. To what do you attribute that decrease in the use of Chilean nitrate?

Dr. KUNSMAN. One of the factors is that we have a synthetic nitrate industry in this country. One company is producing synthetic nitrate of soda and selling it in the market in competition with the imported product. Another factor is the cheaper ammonia and ammonium sulphate taking the place of the nitrate simply because it is a cheaper form of nitrogen than the nitrate.

Mr. THURSTON. Ammonia promotes acidity, so that lime is required to neutralize it?

Dr. KUNSMAN. Lime and dolomite are necessary; yes. I might say that a large part of our investigations within the last couple of years have been with a view to correcting this acidity. In February 1934 we published a report entitled "Equivalent Physiological Acidity or Basicity of American Fertilizers."