The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31
|HOWBIRMINGHAMsMIGHT
 RECOME PHOSPHATE CENTER
Henad Tells of the Great Granite Deposits Extending All l. the Way From Virginia to the Warrior River
Ny R. H. LEINAD

, sulphates of potassium are found in
 large masses-in beds or deposts-like
 mud settling in pond-and already re- ferred to- In Germany the salts as
 brought from the mines are treated by Leblanc's process in the same manner as sodium compounds, and they yield carbonates by similar reactions. In the long ago when hard wood was plentiful, timber was cut down and | burned on the ground. the ashes were spread over the surface if the land. and it is of record that in the Gennesee val l ley, New York, crops of wheat were harvested averaging from 8 to 42 bushels
 per acre off lands thus treated. On these same lands--the potash now
 well exhausted-20 bushels is now con-
 sidered large yield. In the famous Green Springs valley similar results were
 had and today 15 to 20 bushels is an av
 craze crop.
 up, like other animals, potash, but that | it passes through the pores of their skin | and is largely retained in their fleece. and in some of the wooden centers of Europe the wash is evaporated and "swint' is obtained. From this Is had several thousand tons of potash yearly. I The residuum from beet sugar has been made to yield other thousands of tons annually. But the great bulk of potash I in commercial use in agricultural prep arations comes from decomposed granite formations.
 And I challenge all or any to show any section of any country as rich in potash compounds as the parallel ridges along the eastern Hanks of the Blue
 Ridge mountains-fro Loudon county Virginia, to the Warrior river in Ala l baIna.
 l In the section named-some 75o miles in length, with an exposure frequently miles in width, often with a thickness 1 of 40 or more feet-there is granite
 formation that is friable, and of the | scores of analyses made not one has
 been found to be less than IS per cent potash-that is to say. 800 pounds of pot ash to each ton of the rock referred too. 1 The average per cent of workable | granite as per analysis fin Alabama and
 Georgia is 127s per cent; however the
 true granites are too hard to be easily
 available while the granoids are friable. | If an average of 10 feet in thickness
 is assumed-and they are many times
 more-the aggregate would be over 20, 00O,000 tons per square mile. and If only 12 per cent of potash were had of the
 available product each square mile of surface in the area referred to would
 give over 100000 of tons.
 l To this crushed material it is only nec- | essary to add the phosphate and nitro ] genous matter and the cotton planter has
 a fertilizing material that cannot be ex-
 ceeded in value.
 The Magic City Is so situated that 1t l could secure at low freight rates the l raw material, the supply of phosphates l could be had In Tennessee or Florida and
 the by-products of coal will give-as at 1 Johnstown, Pa--immense quantities of
 ammonia; and, again, basic slag itself
 furnishes to soils as volcanic debris does, a phosphate and an acid new in
 use, but wonderful in results, so that the opportunities for capital and labor are | very great in this line.
 Indeed, the financial possibilities are | far greater in the direction of profits
 than any industry now in this section
 and with one exception, that of the man. ufacture of calceum carbide, greater | than any other now known. An expe-
 erience in all parts of the United States | in geological work gives the right
 to challenge any one to successfully dis prove the statements made.
 Birmingham has opportunities that no | city ever had before, far greater than Pittsburg, but it cannot become a truly great city until It's industries are diver
 sified. tft