The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-09

seed cake, so that now, ii unmonopolized,
the farmers could purchase artificial ma
nures sufficient for their needs at moder-
ate prices. That successful attempts have
80 far been made to monopolize and keep
| up the prices of much of this material
by the fertilizer makers is unquestionable;
but the growing knowledge of the nature
of plant food, its proper combination and
use, aud the market price of substances
containing it, will soon result in a general
demand for these goods at "bed-rock !"
prices. There is no greater outrage upon
the whole public, producers and consum-
ers alike, than any attempt to monopolize
and raise the price of the fertilizers, by
means of which our food is grown. Every
| effort should be directed towards cheaper.
ing such goods as much as possible, not
only in their production and manufacture,
but also in their transportation. Fertil'
izers should be transported as cheaply as
coal, aud if the owners and managers of
railroads are 80 stupid as not to see that
the richer our farms the more freight
they will furnish to the roads, they should
be taught the fact by legislation. There
is less business sense, in this respect in
the management of New England rail-
roads than there ever was in the manage
ment of New England farms.
A recent issue of the Charleston News
and Courier contains an interesting ar
ticle upon the subject of the Carolina
phosphate from which we make the fol-
lowing extracts:
"The phosphate rock bed of South
Carolina contains en- almost inexhausti-
BILE mine of wealth, and now supplies the
civilized world with the chief part of all
the phosphate of lime used in the manu-
facture of commercial fertilizers. 1t under
lies vast region of country, thirty miles
wide and seventy miles in length. The
scientists differ in their opinions as to the
origin of this great deposit, and vary just
as widely in their estimates of the guam
tity of rock contained in the deposit.
There has been steadily increasing
demand for the rock since the shipment
of the first cargo in 1868, and from an
insignificant beginning phosphate mining
has grown into one of the largest and
most important industries in the state.
The rock forms the bed of many of the
rivers leading to the ocean, it underlies
the wide streams which surround the sea
islands, it crops out of the land at many
poime, it abounds in fossil remains, it
varies in formation and color, it is won
derful in all respects. The river deposits
are mined with crowbar and pick tongs
and dredges. The land rock, Of the min.
ing of which it is intended here to give
some account, is excavated with pick and
shovel. There are sixteen companies and
individuals now engaged in mining the
land rock with joint capital of about
100000. The production of these mines
} last year was about 270, 900 tons of rock
The country in which the rock is found
is generally level and the soil is moist and
soft. The rock is "sounded for by q
long sharp.pointed steel rod. Whenever
rock is struck from six to eight feet from
the surface of the ground, a test pit is
sunk to ascertain the thickness of the
stratum, and to find whether the rock will
analyzs up to the market standard. II
the stratum is ten inches thick it will pay
to mine to the depth of seven feet for it
if it is not more than six inches thick il
will not pay to mine to any great depth
When rock is found, the land is sounded
every one hundred feet, and chart il
prepared showing its location and its
depth and thickness. Before beginning
mining operations the phosphate land il
laid off into fields measuring eight hun
bred feet long by six hundred feet il
width, and the lines are run. A platform
is built in the center of the field on which
the rock from the mining pit is piled. A
railroad is run through the centre of thu
field alongside the platform, and the min
ers, beginning their excavations on tn,
3 sides of the field, dig steadily to the cen
{ tire. A succession of pits measuring si1
by twelve feet is sunk along the who'll
line of the field. The dirt from the pit
is thrown to the rear, and the rock to thu
. front, and is then rolled to the platform
5 or central pile in the field. The dir
! from the next pit is thrown into the pi
previously excavated, and the rock il
: thrown to the front. From the mines tn,
D., rock is hauled to the washers in trains o
/ dumping cars. Here the rock is emptiet
q into powerful breakers, armed with stee
teeth, where it is crushed into pieces o
; uniform size. 1t then falls into trough
: or tubs resting on an incline. In each o
8 these tubs an octagonal shaft, cased il
U iron and set with blades or hukes, re
0. wolves, giving spiral motion whicl
churns the rock around, and forces it GU
I of the tubs upon screens, While the rocl
:, is in the tubs it is subjected to continu
1 Gus and powerful stream of water whicl
cleanses it of all foreign matter, 30 tina
: when it is forced out of the tubs it is size,
D upon series of screens and separate,
). from all the remaining gravel. 1t is the
r piled on platforms or in sheds for ship
a ment. Several of the mining companie
; have hot air drying sheds where abou
fifteen per cent of moisture absorbed i
8 washing is expelled. Improvements ar
Q continually being made in the method
II of treating the rock. The first cargo wa
washed by hand, the washers being pre-
vided with stiff brushes, with which the
8 got out all the clay and gravel. No,
# nearly all the work is done by machinery
}. the capacity of some of the washers bein
n more than one hundred tons day."
The Greenbacks.