The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1911-04-28

:
fined. Wyoming. Idaho and Utah
nave great, If as yet unsurveyed.
areas, while there are lesser occur
rences in other States. The Eastern
deposits are naturally of the most
immediate importance.
Whatever the quantity of phos pha-
tic rock in the Eastern States may
be, that of better than go per cent.
bone phosphate" or IL per cent phos-
phorus value is limited to the needs
OF a comparatively short time; with
its exhaustion we must use lower
grade rock or 60 further for our sup
ply. Already the country has been
practically robbed of It's easily avail
able phosphates of II per cent value,
and Europe enriched in proportion to
our loss.
A bushel Of wheat and it's straw
contain approximately one-third and
bushel of corn with its cob and
stalk one-fourth of round of phos-
phorus. A ton of such phosphate
rock as we have exported, for only
the best goes, contains 7 per cent.
of bone phosphate, or / per cent. 300
pounds, of phosphorus. The 10000
900 tons of phosphate rock we have
exported in the last twenty years de-
prived us of the phosphorus for 49,
IOO0,OOO,O00 bushels of corn or for 49,
'5OO,OOO,OO0 bushels of wheat-a
quantity equal to the total phosphorus
contents of all the wheat we have
raised during that time.
That we need our phosphates at
home that they are a necessity Of our
life, and that we are parting with
them and adding to the fertility of
other lands at the expense of our
own, are facts Of the correctness of
which there is not doubt.
We are thinking that it is time to
conserve what we have, and in a way
we are doing better than we did. We
are slowly and slightly improving our
farming, the small increase in our
crop averages during the last ten
years Indicates this. Public opinion
recognizes the economic importance
of more and better crops. That old
est and most honorable of all prCfes-
siOns seems coming to it's own again;
and the farmer, whom the increased
prices of his product has of late
brought prominently before us, is
drawing to him a greater following
From bench and shop the recruits
are coming, all the professions are
represented, those with some capital
and no avocation, those with health,
strength, and stay, their only assets;
together with those soldiers of eco
nomic fortune who change their SER
vice with the season.
That the individual rewards of ag-
riculture may be commensurate with
the labor, energy, perseverance, and
intelligence of our defenders against
food want is our plain duty, as well
as a ward against National decline.
We cannot better reward the farmer
nor contribute more to our own well
being and security, the two combin
ing to not only safeguard what of
we now enjoy but to in
crease it, than to confine within our
own borders the rarest and most nee
essary plant food nature has therein
provided
In an article in Worlds Work our
most prominent American geolcgist
has advocated the prohibition Of phos
phate expectations. A chorus of
weaker voices should take up the
strain, until through weight of num- |
bers and the volume and insistence
of their warnings, the people demand
that their legislative servants find
the way and means to make such |
prohibition effective.
This is no matter for the next cent |
ury or next year, but one for us to
consider to-day now.