under favorable conditions whatever nitrates can possibly be needed, whether for the crops of the world or for various other important uses. In short, with the aid of electrical-conversion apparatus, there is nothing that Niagara will fail to give us, from manure to diamonds, for just as the carbon crystals have been fixed in the now Mr. fierce heat of electric furnaces, so MR. CHARLES S. BRADLEY. Bradley and his associates have fixed nitrogen by As far back as a similar combination of forces. 1785, the famous Dr. Priestly noted the fact that when an electric spark was discharged through it, the air underwent immediately a chemical A thunderstorm and the following change. Any one freshness are an analogue to this. who has stood in the vicinity of frictional electric machines at work has become conscious of the pungent, fresh odor they caused; and the same phenomenon is often noticeable where dynamoelectric machinery is in motion, if the brushes on the commutator spark freely. This smell has been attributed to ozone created by the decomposition of the air and the rearrangement of the oxygen atoms; but it is now thought that it may be due, for the most part, to oxides of nitrogen. In regard to the 1785 experiments, the celebrated physicist Cavendish said, in the quaint phraseol- It was, indeed, by following analogous meth- Here, then, are the foundation data of a new MR. D. R. LOVEJOY. A great deal of time and money had to be spent in determining the form or variety of elec tric arc-spark that would effect the maximum chemical union of nitrogen and oxygen in the LIBRARIES EIGHT-INCH 10,000-VOLT ARCS BURNING THE AIR. air. The curious discovery was early made that "static" sparks, such as are caused by the rotation of the frictional glass disc machines seen in medical establishments, are not worth much for this work. In other words, of homely truth and wider range, the process was one needing lots of energy back of it to do hard work, and not mere pyrotechnics; and static electricity has never yet been of any use to man as a beast of burden. Turning, therefore, to kinetic or dynamic electricity as obtained from modern generators driven either by steam engines or by water wheels, the two inventors next ascertained that for their work, contrary to the experience of Lord Rayleigh, an alternating current arc was inferior to the direct current arc,-the latter being very much of the kind to be seen on the streets nightly in hundreds of thousands of lamps, whose arc is apparently a shining white bow of light between the two carbon sticks inside the globe. Up to the present time, an arc-light directcurrent dynamo of special winding has, therefore, been used by Mr. Bradley, giving current at the high pressure of 10,000 volts, which is far above anything ever used before in this country, although some direct-current power-transmission has been done recently in Switzerland with machines of 25,000 volts, the strain on the insulation of the machines being very severe. Supply of current being now obtained from dynamo machinery, the power to operate which comes from Niagara, Mr. Bradley leads it into the nitrifying chamber, where the arcs are to ac. complish in an instant results on which it is the custom of Nature to expend long centuries. In COMPLETE NITRIFYING CHAMBER AND INCIDENTAL APPARATUS FOR BURNING THE AIR WITH ELECTRIC ARCS. GENERAL VIEW OF ARC MACHINE ON LEFT DRIVEN BY MOTOR AT THE RIGHT, RECEIVING ITS CURRENT FROM NIAGARA POWER PLANT. VIEW SHOWING TERMINALS USED FOR ARCING AND BURNING THE AIR IN CHAMBER. THE BY WILLIAM R. DRAPER. HE season of greatest activity upon the farm has ended, and now the agriculturalists of this country are beginning to compute their profits for 1902. Wheat has all been harvested, corn is matured beyond the point of danger, and other cereals are safe for the season. Pasturage was never in better shape for the grazing herds, and only the cotton crop seems to be seriously affected. Cotton is not so badly drought-bitten but that the growers can come out with a handsome profit. VICISSITUDES OF THE SEASON. In A few weeks prior to the wheat harvest the usual cry of hot winds and droughty conditions in the grain belt went forth, but when the harvest came it was found that wheat was safe. the Northwest wheat harvesting was delayed by heavy rains, and along the north Pacific coast considerable, but not serious, damage was done to grain in the shock. In the Southwest the harvest progressed without a hitch, so far as favorable weather was concerned. The principal difficulty was in securing sufficient harvest helpers. The spring wheat crop, which is the principal one of the Northwest, was considerably damaged by hail in the Dakotas. Notwithstanding this slight interference the condition of wheat, as viewed by government experts, gradually improved as the season came to an end. Nebraska, this year, claims the largest wheat yield per acre. This record was previously held by Wyoming. During the early part of August a hot wave struck the corn fields of Kansas, and threatened to burn them before the ears had matured, but the intense heat lasted less than one week, doing less than 3 per cent. damage to growing corn. Cool weather and general rains followed, and the corn is now safely matured. As a whole, the corn made excellent and unhampered progress throughout the growing season. This record of weather conditions is unusual. Early in August the cotton crop began to improve, and there is a possibility that the drought, shredding, and rust which threatened to wipe out the profits of cotton growers of the South will not, after all, seriously affect the result. Wheat was blighted in portions of the country in early spring and during the past winter, while heavy rains during July damaged the corn to some extent in the Lake, upper Mississippi, and lower Missouri regions. But otherwise the crops have been attended and assisted by favorable rains and sunshine throughout the growing seasons. As always, the scare of a ruined wheat crop was started in early summer, but it was found after harvest that the crop had fallen short of last year's enormous wheat yield by 50,000,000 bushels, while corn for 1902 exceeded the crop of 1901 by 1,000,000,000 or more bushels. Other cereals will be above the ten-year average. The Northwest is producing the largest crop of wheat, barley, oats, and flax ever recorded, while Kansas is coming forward with a bumper" corn crop, even in excess of 1889, when corn was burned for fuel and sold at 10 cents per bushel. As a result of the bounteous har 66 vest, a bearish feeling possessed the speculators, and grain "sold off" steadily. Once the "corner in corn and oats had been broken the market took the natural downward trend. THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM. The railroads entering the great corn and wheat belts, instead of offering reduced rates to ship, in the grain, as was made to some droughtstricken communities in 1901, will be overtaxed in hauling the cereals to market. Farmers along the Pacific slope won a decisive concession from the transportation companies prior to Eastern grain shipments this season. A flat cut of 10 per cent. in freight rates on wheat was made by a number of the trunk lines. The farmers asked for a deduction of 33 per cent., but under the new arrangement the wheat growers of Oregon, Washington, and California will increase their profits 3 cents per bushel. This will be a saving of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Western grain growers. THE YIELD OF CEREALS. Cereal crops for the year of 1902 have not all been gathered, but experts have reported upon their yield, and these approximate reports, submitted several months ahead of the Government reports, have proved very nearly exact in the past. Approximately stated, the yield is as follows: Wheat, 700,500,000 bushels; corn, 2,589,951, 000 bushels; oats, 860,000,000 bushels; barley, 120,850,000 bushels; rye, 30,350,000 bushels. Thus a total of 4,351,851,000 bushels of cereals were produced on 841,000,000 acres, to say nothing of the farming land used for other crops and for pasture land, barnyards, etc. Prices obtained by the farmers for the cereals differ every year. Last year, for instance, there was a shortage in corn, and it sold for 60 cents a bushel on the farm. The history of corn has been that during such plentiful seasons as this one the average price is 30 cents per bushel. At that rate 1902 corn will bring to the farmers $776,985,300. Wheat prices are governed accordingly. All other things considered, wheat will bring 60 cents to the farmer during 1902,—that is, he will have realized that amount by general consideration of wheat on hand, the shortage, etc., and at this figure the wheat crop will net $580,100,000 to farmers. Oats, if sold at the present market price, will bring $350,500,000; barley, $52,750,000; rye, $15,909,000, or a total of $1,776,244,000 for cereals alone. The cotton crop is worth this year about $500,000,000, while the hay, including alfalfa, is worth the same amount to the farmer. Potatoes will sell for $100,000,000, while the buckwheat crop is valued at $8,000,000. There have been other years when cereals sold for more; last year the corn crop, though one-half as large as in 1902, sold for $921,555,768. But the farmers did not hold much of it when it went to 65 cents, so they were not benefited. The selling price at harvest time can generally be accepted as the farm price. THE PRODUCT COMPARED WITH THAT OF FORMER YEARS. Approximately the earnings of the five and two-thirds million farms of the United States were, for 1902, five and one-fifth billion dollars. This is far in excess of the total income of the farmers at any other time in their history. The products of the farms for 1899 sold for $4,739,118,752. The cereals, save corn, are about equal to the crop of 1899. This year, 500,000,000 bushels more corn and several hundred thousand head of steers in excess of three years ago were placed on the markets. And one should also remember that the number of farms is continuously increasing at a rate of from fifteen to forty thousand annually. The corn crop of the world for 1900 was 2,882,900,000, the corn crop of the United States for 1901 was 1,522,518,000 bushels. while the corn crop of the United States for 1902 is slightly in excess of the 1900 crop of the entire world. This year 94,869,928 acres were planted in corn, principally in Illinois, |