The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1910-11-25
THE FERTILIZER
WRANGLE |S0N
Said to Contain SuIphate of AM
monia, but Omitted on Tag
.HARDfE'S EXPLANATION
oo,o;ons of Growers Is That the Use of
sulohate of Ammonia In Pineapple
Featl;zers Is Undoubtedly Fatal
Jensen, Fla, Nov. q, 1910

Jensen, Fla, Nov. q, 1910
Editor TRIBUNE:
Since the issue of your paper contain
mo NV article relative to our County
Prosecuting Attorney declining to file
Information in the case submitted to
him relative to the alleged violation of
The fertilizer laws. / have had numer-
ols injuries asking for further infor-
nation relative to same, but as stated
n former letter, cannot publish any
n the evidence that have secured,
Init feel that it is perfectly proper that
state some things that have been dis
closed, and as this information has been
furnished me by the fertilizer dealers
IN their efforts to justify their shipping
TO us those things which we are charg
ng has damaged us. / will quote part
Of letter frcm one dealer in Jackson
vile in whose pineapple fertilizer had
been found l.52 per cent sulphate OF
ammonia, but on whose guarantee
tao" the following statement appears:
-"This fertilizer is made from blood,
bone, castor pomace, sulphate of pot
ash and cotton seed NEAL
Replying to my direct question as to
how It came to have 1,52 per cent sui.
pbate of ammonia when the guarantee
tag did not give sulphate of smmonia
as one of the sources Of ammonia as the
law requires, this dealer makes the fol-
lowing reply:- ~
Jacksonville, Fla, Oct. 10, 1910
W. R. Hardee, Jensen.
Dear Sir: Your favor of 18th duly
received and noted. | note what you
say in regard to "dopets' and that you
consider sulphate Of ammonia as one
Of them. This is the first time--the in
stance of yours and Mr.. Wolf--that |
have ever heard any objection to the
use Of sulphate Of ammonia by the
growers for a pineapple fertilizer
Now | want to say that the above
statement is absolutely untrue, for 10
1902 | had considerable correspondence
with this same firm relative to the same
thing when | bought 81 tons OF some
50 called blood and bone from the Cud-
shy Packing Company, which was made
up at the factory of the firm making
the above statements, and which con-
tanned over three per cent Of sulphate
Of ammonia. ,.
kicked as hard as it was in my pow
er to kick at that time, and the party
who wrote me the above was the iden-
teal party who did the corresponding
at that time. "a bad memory is ia
tai thing under such circumstances, /
refused TO pay for the, goods. claimed
fraud, and the Cudahy, people threat,
ened to sue me, but when they looked
into the Florida law they were more
than glad to drop it to escape criminal
prosecution. So | think in view Of
these facts. that the gentleman is
stretching things when he insists that
this is the first time he has ever heard
ANY objections to the use OF sui!phate
Of ammonia as fertilizer for plneap-
ples."
He states: eve have never used
salphate of ammonia. as suIphate OF
ammonia" but would like to ask the
question as to what difference 1t maSes
what he calls it, he might call it, 'goiG.
dust. or the concentrated essence, %
purgatory, for a "rose, by any otnef
name, would smell just as sweet lor
the aIysis shows 1t to be sulphate %
ammonia, and since 1902, have been
hghting sulphate of ammonia as pine
apple fertilizer, for got a dose OF !,
Then, that almost ruined one OF the
finest young fields of pineapples tina! |
ever had, and it was known through
out the length and breadth Of the land
yet this gentlemen claims to have never
heard of it before.
Continuing he says:--"Up to the tune
TINS question came back at us, 1t mao
never occurred to me that sulphate OF
ammonia could be found in blood ana
I Done, or other fertilizer material uriess
Y had been put there, but have taken
The matter up with our chemist ana
y the manufacturers Of blood and bone
and find that it will be almost impos-
slhlc to get any blood and bone that
Y VIII not show from to 3 per cent %
sulphate of ammonia, for the. reason
mat during the process Ut Manufacture
ammonia, in the form of sulphate' VIII
2 be formed.
IN explaining how it gets into the SO
called blood and bone, ne q totes Ir1n n
some of the factories from whom ne
purchases his goods and who wrote MI"
y y follows: :,
You will understand that we acld.
uate a large quantity Of our tanKage
ad this viii produce sulphate OF am
monia, then again we purchase some OF
oor glue tankage from all over Ine
eountry that has been treated WIZ"
sa!phuric acid, and this will also DE-
veIop sulphate of ammonia. or
quoting from another MANUFACTURE
/ e says: I'm making concentrate *,
S1aka,ge. (which by the way, '1eo Ja and