212 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



officially explored these deposits, and added greatly to our 

 present knowledge of their extent and character. The beds 

 of the rock in question are found below the white chalk and 

 above the green sand, and nodules of the phosphate are 

 found on the surface of the soil in many other places. The 

 extent of country covered by the principal phosphatic zone 

 is not less than twenty million hectares, and it is thought not 

 to be an exaggeration to say that Central Russia rests upon 

 enough phosphate of lime to supply all Europe. Around 

 the boundary of the cretaceous basin of this country the 

 phosphate beds appear to be at or near the surface, but in 

 the central regions they dip to a depth too great to permit 

 their being worked economically. The results of the chem- 

 ical examinations of this remarkable rock show that the 

 average quantity of phosphoric acid is about 20 per cent., 

 varying from 12 to 33 per cent., while the proportion of lime 

 varies from 18 to 50 per cent. These great deposits were 

 hardly discovered when their development commenced. At 

 present there are two establishments for this purpose in the 

 government of Kursk and one at Riga; this last receives the 

 raw material from Smolensk, reduces it to powder, and sells 

 a considerable quantity to the landowners of the Baltic 

 provinces. The quality of the article is excellent ; and if 

 means can be found to reduce the price, not only will the 

 sale be more rapid, but the profits greater. In Russia, it is 

 remarked that, notwithstanding the value of these phosphates 

 and the importance of manure to the Russian farms, the 

 agriculturists have scarcely begun to profit by them; the 

 rural inhabitants are slow to adopt mineral manures, ac- 

 customed as they have been for ages to the use of farm 

 manure alone. Monthly Agricultural JReport, p. 23. 



