ABSTRACT
In all pasture land a certain amount of fixation of atmospheric nitrogen is always going on through the agency of bacteria. And it is fortunate that this is so, obscure operations of such tiny things as the azotobacter, clostridium, and a few other organisms, the necessary stimulant would be missing from large parts of the earth’s surface. The temperature in the electric flame is said to exceed 3000° C., and the escaping gases are brought down to between 800° and 1000° C. As the gases in the atmosphere occur in the ratio oxygen 21 to nitrogen 79 by volume, and the theoretical proportions required are equal volumes, atmospheric air does not provide by itself the most favourable material. The interior of the furnaces is lined with fire-clay brick, through the walls of which the air is admitted to the flame. The air is brought into each furnace by aid of centrifugal fans which drive it through tubes from the basement.
