From fertiliser to Zyklon B: 100 years of the scientific discovery that brought life and death

[fasttense]

1. We never put fertilizer on our garden

and we harvested almost $10,000 worth of produce off a 30x100 foot plot this year. Mostly from turnips, radishes (every kind) tomatillos, grape tomatoes, okra, mustard, collards and Kale. We do put compost on in spring and let some cover crops grow in late fall (we still have turnips, radishes and greens growing now) but we never put artificial fertilizers on our garden. The soil is not very rich, but it gets better every year.

I don't see the need for artificial fertilizers. AND I do NOT believe for ONE minute that the world was running out of natural fertilizers. Really? There were no animals manures from sheep, pigs, cattle, chickens or horses? There were no rotting wood chips or decaying straw? There were no barns to clean out. Then there is human waste and feces that can be used. China uses human feces a lot in their fertilizers now. NO the Germans and the rest of the world were NOT running out of fertilizer.

It's just much easier to use ammonia and it works easier with huge farm equipment. You don't have to wait for the ammonia to age like you do with manures and cover crops. Diluted, it can be sprayed right on the plants when manures could burn seedlings.