Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1872-02-16
For tie Keo,oce Courier.

'"'o, HhoSo's' IlultoTS, mace inc IOliOW-
ing extract, with some appended remarks on
manures, from the american Farmer and
Rurat Register. And right here, allow me
to say to you, that the old american Farmer
has again fallen into good hands, Our old
friend, Samuel Sands, who so ably and up.
provingly conducted it for very many years
has again taken the helm, and with tho assis
tance of competent son, will make the old
Farmer itself again. I presume you have
not reader of the Courier, that hns been as
constant q reader of the Farn,er as long as
has your correspondent 1919, when
the first volume was published. The ort,ele
] now offer is taken from Vol l, New Series.
No. l, January, 1872, aud is headed,
"PHOsPHATEs AND Observation-Disclosures y
by Ifof. Z. B. Wilson, Of Baltimore.
"The discovery of the vast deposits of fos
sill bone in South Carolina has not resulted
as it was reasonably supposed it should, IN
giving the agriculturist chenp and relinblc
source of material for the base of artificial fer
tilizcrs, viz, phosphoric acid Not but that
these fossils are truly rich in bone phosphate
of lime,' from which these lnunures derive
their value achen property prepared and rcu
dered soluble" (ltulics my own, MIR. Editor.
for here lies the important dosideratum-th
touch. stone of the various preparations now
offered for sale Are the phosphatcs to ann
e,rtemt sohuJieP If not, Just rs we'll grind m
flint stones and apply to your lands as manure,
perhaps better on stiff clay land with small
addition of potash, ashes.) "But from the
oarnnqS II.
upon the,market in not having the foreign mat.
ter removed from them, thereby detcriorating
their value for the manufacture of conccntrn.
ted fertilizers
"rhese fossils, when properly washed and
clenused from sand and mud, should yield
from oO to 10 per cent. of bone phosphate of
line, but as found in commerce. either in the
ground state or in bulk, they rarely weld
more than 90, and frequently under 50 per
cent
'.Auother, and far greater difficulty, is
their want ofasoluli2ity !; virtually and cheni
cn!ly speaking, they contain their phosphorus
acid combined with lime, precisely In the
same state as 10 the fresh bone of tho OK.
horse or sheep, while the physical properties
Of the, combination is far different, aud this
difference determines their value for mauurial
purposes. .,e ..,
"rhe difference in tho, physical properties
OF bodies having the same chemical compo.
sltion --in relation to the same solvents. pre
sents itself almost daily to the chemist, 50
that in regard to the solubility or ipsolubiity
of phosphates of lime dependent upon the
source from which they are derived: ia
not an anomaly. Fresh bone, either contain
ing Or deprived Of animul matter, when finelv
grounG, viii, after the first years application
to- the soil, pc gradually dissolved by the
rains, and tho gaseous matter absorbed By the
soil, and supply slowly the needed food for
vegetation, while tho same ohanges in the
fossil bone, IT ever occurring, would be long
aid tedious, not repayiog the farmer for the
labor a3drmoncy he has expended in tilling
his lands. Eyen this state Of superior solu.
bility In recent bone in comparison to the fos,
sll or IMMORAL phosphates, has boen proven:
by experience to be inadequate to the demand
Of growing plants, and. tho solDbiIity of bone
needed to be increased.
'"To produce this 'ofapge, tho natural com.
bination Of three parts Of lime to one Of phos.
phoric ao,d is deoomposed with sulphuro
aoid, which has greater afiuity for the li,ne
than the phosphoric acid has; therefore, snl-
phuric acid is added il sufficient quantity to
combine with two parts Of lime, thus giving
mixture Of gypsum, or ordinary land plaster,
and an exceedingly soluble phosphate, being
. combination Of one part ofphosphoric acid,
one Of lime, and two Of water. This phos
phate, whom used ss a fertilizer, BY coming
10 contact with the constituents Of tn. soil,
may become moro OF lees soluble, yet the 90
heYivoe forces Or physical properties Of the
that originally Of the bone phosphate, that tho
rains and stmosphetio Influences, readily yield
Il to vegetation, as Il u needed. ia7T7 ''''F
MFoesil and mineral phosphates sfe AZ Al,