Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-05-15
Future Farming.

The past quarter Of a century has seen an
enormous increase in all the productive
powers of modern society save IN farming
New land has added many fold TO the gross
output of cereals, and wool, cotton, and other
farm products but acre by acre the average
production grows little and in some crops
fall, off. No change is likely until fertilizers
grow cheap. aud there are signs that one of
the most important phOsphates is TO 60 down
with run in the next ten years. South
Carolina is the great center of production for
phosphate rock and the washed product
mined in the last twenty years has grown
eightfold, in the last four risen from 37s $50
long tons to $50 SOS. But none of the phos-
phate deposits as yet worked in this country
are near p rites, and the result is that Euro
pcan firms can buy the raw material take it
10 England or Germany and bring il
back ~ the manufactured article
In 1887, II per cent. of the produce
IN South Carolina went to foreign ports As
the Engineering aud Mining Journal saws.
even where the tVo materials needed are es
tremely low. say 81 % ton for pyrites and
- 80 for finely ground rock, the average
cost of II per cent soluble super phosphate
is 50 3 ton and reaches S25 be fore the farmer
gets it. There are other geological forma
tons in This country, in the Nebraska bad
lands, in Kentucky. where conditions similar
to the Spanish phosphate beds exist, ard else,
where, in which Dr. Penrose, of this city,
has pointed out in valuable monograph on
the subject. phosphates may be yet dis
covered But the other grea, SQUIRE of phos-
pilates is IN the Canadian spstite beds in
Ontario and Quebec. Their product Is still
small. % $50 tons in 1857; but it is increas
In .,,l Iar,r
points out that Canada has copper pyrites
near its apatite With the sulpher turned
into acid, the copper into matter. and the
phosphates taken and used as they come from
the quarry the quantity of phosphate is
hkely to b. grail, Increased and the est
lesscued "A result which the Ameri-
can farmers, mindful of the South
Carolina MONOPOLY. will view with great
equsnimity. There is, ho vever, still an
other and increasing source of phosphate
fertilizers from the basic process Ia lssS
the steel made by this process reached
,953 pa tons, an increase over the pre-
vluus year of PAS 1853 tons. With the steel
some 600, 900 tons of Stag, containing about
81 per cent. of phosphate of lime, was made
nearly all of which was used as a fertilizer
The basic patents in this country have nov
but short time to run, and the rapid devel-
opnt Mt of this process. which has taken
place abroad will be seen here with a like
prod ct OF phosphstes It is altogether
probable that these varied sources will
greatly increase the supply of this important
fertilizer If 4 careful examination ~ert
made in archaau. siiuIisn. and cretSceoG,
formations as suggested by DIR, Penrose
in his monograph, it may easily be discover
eli that we are only at the beginning of our
know ledge of these invaluable deposits,
whose sure result is to increase the profits
of the farmer and cheaper the food of the
consumer Philadelphia Press.