Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 66.djvu/444

440 germs. Field experiments have shown the wonderful activity of these bacteria in fixing atmospheric nitrogen and the splendid crops which may be grown upon what would otherwise be almost sterile soil.

In this one problem of our future supply of available nitrogen for agriculture as well as general manufacturing purposes, we note the aid which technical chemistry draws from the other departments of natural science. The electrical engineer and the biologist have already contributed a great share to its solution. There remains, however, no small amount of work for the technical chemist to perform before the desired end is reached.

In an address on 'Chemical Problems of To-day,' delivered by Victor Meyer in 1889, the author pointed out that, although the synthesis of starch from carbon dioxide and water was a result not to be expected in the near future, yet, he says, 'we may reasonably hope that chemistry will teach us to make the fiber of wood the source of human food' While we do not consider that this is a problem of technical chemistry for the present, the possible use of cellulose as a raw material from which to make food renders more acute a problem which is to-day clamoring for solution, namely, the preservation of our forests. The influence which the forests of a country have upon its civilization is a topic which has been much discussed of late. That there is an intimate relation between the woodland of a district and the regularity of its rainfall, the absence of floods and freshets and the general climatic conditions, there seems now to be little doubt. But the consumption of forest products continues to increase far out of proportion to the growth of new timber. The substitution of other raw material in chemical industries which now use wood for this purpose becomes therefore an economic problem for the solution of which the chemist is held responsible.

The production of cellulose from raw materials other than wood is the first important factor in the chemical side of the question. The weight of wood consumed for the production of chemical fiber for the year 1902 was something over two million tons, while one and a half million tons were used for the manufacture of ground wood pulp. While from some points of view our American forests are sufficient to supply the demand for many years to come, it does not excuse us for the terrible waste of cellulose in forms other than wood which we are constantly suffering.

On our flax fields of the west we are annually burning thousands of tons of flax straw which contains a large percentage of cellulose in a most valuable form. Considerable work has already been done on the utilization of this straw in the production of fiber and some success has met the efforts of the By-Products Paper Company now located at Niagara Falls. There is, however, still much room for