The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1920-02-27
pHos-PHo.cERM FACTORY


,~ttCA1i0t, anu some OlEGr similar O11.
Gals, but here is one thing we believe
certain; unless they very soon learn
something about the wonderful pow.
er of bacteria and do something to
help the farmers get away from using
so many acids and chemicals, the day
will come when the farmers Of the
country are going to be in bad way.
It is our belief that the use of so many
acids and chemicals is simply killing
the bacteria lie and wearing out the
soil.
There is a good deal of food fol
thought in what Commissioner Geo
r. Norris of the Federal Farm LOAF
Board had to say in Washington some
days ago. Mr.. Norris was addressing
some delegates and said that after
a few years the Florida reclaimed
lands would become worthless. He
said it turned white and lost its life
giving proprties and that money thus
expended would not be a good >invest.
ment by the government.
We do not believe that this applies
to all of Florida, but we do believe
THAT something on the order of Phos
phogerm, which puts these soils, is
the only possible Offset to just such
conditions as Mr. Norris touches
upon.
And now another point of your arti-
Gle which we are absolutely at a loss
to understand why such reputable
paper as yours should permit to be
printed at this time. We refer to the
fact that your article would leave the
impression that Phosphogerm is now
|suject to attachment, because we. do
not comply with Florida laws. For
going on two years we have been pay
ing the fertilizer tax on every ton Of
Phosphogerm which we have sold in
this state, and we operate under a
regular state license. 1t seems to us
that you should have known we could
not have been doing business if this
was not done. The article quoted
from was printed more than a year
ago and even at that time the article
of state chemist Rose contained an
absolutely false statement when it
said we were attempting to evade
the law and declining to register the
~, critical aro1vvrir ,,rdar oat1, Tiki,
lis not true today and was not true
when the article was originally print
ed. Weeks before that time we had
offered to register our goods with the
commissioner of agriculture, who fol.
lowed the precedent of commissioners
in several other states in constituting
Phosphogerm as bacteria product
and not as chemical fertilizer.
If the state chemist had informed
himself on the subject he would have
known we would have tagged our
goods at any time it was required and
would not have taken the very unfair
method he did in handling the matter
Every man connected with this or
ganization of ours is just as honor.
able and upright as any man connect.
ed with the Florida Grower or any
other Florida organization. We do
not have to earn our livelihood by de-.
frauding the public and would not at.
tempt anything of the kind any soon,
er than you would. But one thing is
crtain, we know we have a wonderful
product that is playing an important
part in the development of agrieul
ture. We do not mean to say that
Phosphergerm is going to produce
fine results in every single case IN
which it is used We have known ct
many instances in which Phospho-
germ crops have not matured proper.
ly just as we have known vi such in
stances with chemical fertilizers Yet
we would not say chemical fertilizers
are worthless.
AS We stated before, there have
been people who did not get the best
crops where Phosphogerm was used.
Many of these cases were due to i'm.
proper methods Of applying, some to
general weather conditions and some
may even have been due to the spec
ial local conditions. In fact, we are
strongly of the opinion that the resi-
due Of acids and chemicals in many
Of the soils, together with the unusu
al wet season of last year, had left a.
toxic condition in the soil which It
was impossible for the bacteria TO
Immediately surmount
One would gather from your artt
Gle that it was absolutely impossible
for Phosphogerm to produce results
In fact, if the article was true and
Phosphegerm did contain only s12.
G. Of actual fertilizing value why is
it doing such remarkable things foI