The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-07-29

PuLvERlzED PHosPHATEs
(By Albertus vogt the Discoverer
of Phosphate in Florida. see both
U. s. and State Geological
Surveys.)

"The fool has said in his heart, there
is no God" Fools come in multiples
and they multiply themselves to geth-
er and by each other. There are some
combinations of both-fools and liars
they blend in harmonious conglom-
crates. These latters are unnatural
pessimists To them life and all its
assets are one continual round of belly
aches. But for their obtrusive intru-
siveness, sane, safe, busy folk would
ignore them utterly. The busiest Of
us must needs take time, however, to
disentangle ticks and dis-enter red
bugs for the reason they are so per-
sistently engaging. 1t is second ma
ture for very many folks to kick. We,
everyday, see urchins who chunk
mocking birds and even their own
family COW.
When / first discovered Florida
phosphates very many biped-insects,
masquerading as men, said: "Oho,
that is one of Vogt's schemes to get
rich-quick"-they were truthful-not
intending to be. 1t was and ! did.
That find has brought material sub
stantial benefit to mankind in all
countries. 1t is Floridas chiefest,
dependable, everlasting asset and
crop-aid. In 1890 l hauled onto my
fields at Rosebank four twO-horse wag-
on loads Of pulverized, or soft phos-
phate, per acre, scattering it in the
burrows and covering it in. l also
hauled onto the field two wagon loads
per acre of barn-yard manure and
covered that in. All Of this was done
in the winter. In 1891 planted the
field in Hastings Early Golden-Dent
corn and cultivated it shallow and
often; the farming was done under
the supervision of Mr.. Lilibon Nixon,
now of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was
fresh from the corn-fields Of Missouri.
That crop of corn was the talk of
that country. l had gathered off the
10-acre field 1927 bushels or -four bar
rels-full of ear-corn. The same land
had in previous years yielded about
25 bushels per acre and had had the
same quantity of barn-yard manure.
DR.. Charles U. Sheppard, who often
visited me, marvelled at that field of
corn. DR.. Otto Groethe said: at is
because of the moisture held in the
ground by the soft phosphate that
the corn is so splendid" Both Drs.
Sheppard and Groethe were most in.
ternationally famous chemists.
said, "it is corn l want-I had Just as
lief make it with provided by phos-
phate-moisture as by phosphoric acid"
The files of both The Ocala Ban.
ner and The Star will show the write.
ups by Harris and Bittinger of that
1891 Rosebank field Of corn. For
three successive years got practical.
ly the same crop results off the field
then planted it to melons, etc., with
satisfactory results.
Recently was on an auto trip to
Marion county. Because OF business
crossed the Blue Springs Run on the
Clement bridge, on the Wester place
In 1926 Major Clement mined that
property. On the east side of the
bridge he piled out the means OF
overburden. 1 saw just three weeks
ago today growing on those debris
piles, say bout 20 per cent of which
is soft phosphate, pine trees that are
10 inches in diameter and one sweet
gum tree that l took time to measure
and found 1t 81 inches in circumfer
ence. This gum tree cannot possibly