Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1903-10-22

ton of the sulphuric acid upon the
phosphate meal was prodigious, steam
and hot Sitting gases are expelled
from tho mixture, and finally the
semi-liquid mass is dumped into an
iron car, run out upon track, built
faT above deep den or pit, the car
is tilted and the mass precipitated to
the bottom of the pit; this operation
Is repeated many times, until the den
or pit contains hundreds lof tons Of
acid phosphate. The mass lying in
the pit gradually becomes drier and
drler, owing to the escape of steam,
and also to the absorption of some
OF the water in crystal form by the
sulphate of lime or land-plaster
which has been formed
This water which escapes as steam,
and which is absorbed as crystal wa
ter, came from the sulphuric acid
with which it was mixed, The sui
| phuric acid used in the manufacture
| is usually what is known as (50)
fifty acid, or fifty degree Beaume
| acid, and contains about ffty-five per
cent of real sulphuric acid, the other
torty-fve per cent being water After
the semi-liquid mass has remained
for few days in the pile it is dry
enough to be handled, and on digging
into it we find it to be OF a porous
honeycOmbed structure, crumbling
easily between the fingers. If the
acid phosphate Is allowed to remain
for a still longer time, still more wa
ter dries out Of it, and it becomes
hard and lumpy, and requires to be
broken up in a disintegrating ma
chine, before it can be manipulated or
sacked.
But no matter how dry It becomes
1t readily dissolves when placed In
water, the water at once acquiring an
acid taste. This &cid taste is due, not
to the sulphuric acid from which IL
was made, but to the mono-calcic
phosphate of lime, which was pro,
duced by the splitting up of the phos.
plate rock by the sulphuric acid.
This phosphoric acid is called the sol,
uble or water soluble phosphoric acid.
In a well-made superphosphate there
Is no longer a particle of sulphurlC
acid running as such. It's powerful
caustic and corrosive properties have
been absolutely killed or neutralized
by the lime of the phosphate rock.
A wonderful transform alton has been
effected. We started with powdered
rock and dilute sulphuric acid in the
material which we have produced
from them there is neither phosphate
rock nor sulphuric acid, but we have
a mixture Of little free phosphorio
acid Of mono-calcic phosphate, of sui
plate Of lime or land-plaster, little
water and a little sand, and few
other impurities, such as were found
in the phosphate rock to begin with.
The phosphoric acid, the mono-cal
cic phosphate and the sulphate of lime
are now harmless, soluble in the soil
waters and ready for appropriation
as food by the rootlets Of the plant.
What Insoluble Phosphoric Acid Isl
In practice the composition of the
material will vary somewhat from
what | have just described; for in.
stance, there will usually be present
a small percentage of what is known
as "insoluble phosphoric acid" This
expression refers to a little phosphate
rock which escaped the action of the
sulphuric acid, because it is safer to
use little less sulphuric acid than is
required for all the phosphate rock,
than to run the risk of getting toe
much of this caustic and corrosive
liquid, and thus spoil the mixture.
Thus, ii on studying the analysis OF
an acid phosphate or other fertilizer,
you see that it contains one per cent
of "insoluble phosphoric acid" that
means to say that the fertilizer con.
tains two and eighteen hundredths
per cent of pure phosphate rock that
the sulphuric acid never touched, be
cause the manufacturer didn't put
enough sulphuric acid in the mixture
to eat up this two per cent of phos'
phate rock, and convert it into super
phosphate and land-plaster
This insoluble phosphoric acid, how.
ever, is not lost, because while it is
not soluble so that the plant may take
1t up at once, it still remains in the
soil and doubtless becomes acted on
in the course Of time by the soil wa
tiers, and eventually appropriated as
plant food. There isalso another con
stituent of an acid phosphate which
1 did not mention during the first de
scription of the process of manufac
ture, so as to avoid confusing you by
crowding too many names and facts
together, and that Is that in most acid
| phosphates there are present small
| percentages of what is known as ere
verted phosphoric acid"
| What Reverted Phosphoric Acid Is