Short History of Fertilizer Development

The history of the world fertilizer industry can be traced to the e2irliest agriculture when man began cultivation of plants to produce food. Prior to cultivation of plants and domestication of animals, man was a hunter and. gatherer of whatever sources of food he could find in his local environment. The early farmers soon learned that some soils were more productive than others they also learned that continuous cultivation of the same land resulted in reduced yields. Some learned that the addition of manures, composts, fish, ashes, and other substances would sometimes increase yields or apparently restore productivity to fields that were considered to be worn out. Most of these soil amendments (the first fertilizers) were discovered by trial and error, and results were unpredictable. 

One of the first true ei iimenls with a Ii ing plant appears to have been conducted by Van Helmont (1577-1644), a Hemish physidan and chemist, in his clasdcal willow experiment.  

I took an earthen vessel into which 1 put 200 pounds of soil dried in an oven, then 1 moistened it with rainwater and pressed into it a shoot of willow tree weighing 5 pounds. After exactly 5 years the tree had grown up and weighed 169 pounds and 3 ounces. But the vessel had never received anyttoig but rainwater or distilled water to moisten it when necessary. At the end I dried the soil once more and got the same 200 pounds I started with, less about 2 ounces. Therefore, the 164 pounds of increased weight of wood, bark, and root came from the water alone. 

Van Helmont considered the 2-ounce loss in the w eight of the soli to be within ejqjerimental error, and his conclusion was erroneous. However, his simple, direct approach and use of quantitative measurement paved the -way-for-future-experimentation that led to an understanding of plant nutrition, w/hich led to a scientific approach to fertilizer development [1]. 

Perfect agriculture is the true foundation of all trade and industry - it is the foundation of the riches of nations. But a rational system of agriculture cannot be formed without the application of scientific principles for such a system must be based on an exact acquaintance with the means of vegetable nutrition. This knowledge we must seek through chemistry. 

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