Abstract

The idea of applying inorganic fertilizers, especially nitrogenous, with a view to increase crop yields, may be said to have originated from India, where potassium nitrate obtained from the nitre-beds of Bihar, Bengal and the Punjab was for a long time used for the purpose. Before the nitre deposits of Chile were discovered and exploited from 1830, India was for centuries the sole source of nitrate both in times of peace for agricultural operations and in times of war, for the preparation of gunpowder. But after the discovery of the huge deposits in Chile, the export of nitrate trom India rapidly decreased and the commercial exploitation of the nitre beds on a large scale has only recently been restarted by a subsidiary company of the Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd.

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