19191 



SOTT.S — FERTITJZERS. 817 



pears that phosphates will probaltly prove to be an essential raanure in the 

 great rice-growing areas of liurnia. 



" In Madras, experiments with phosphatic manuring have been chiefly 

 made with paddy. Marlced deficiency in available phosphate is chiefly noticeable 

 in old paddy soils. All forms of phosphates have yielded marked results. On 

 the laterite high lands chiefly devoted to planting crops, tea, coffee, and rub- 

 l)er, paying results have been obtained by the use of basic slag and basic 

 superphosphates. 



" In Bombay, the need for phosphate was most felt in the rice lands of the 

 Konkan, both superphosphate and bone meal repaying the cost of application. 

 Outside this area the scarcity of nitrogen and organic matter appears to be 

 the limiting factor, except possibly in the case of leguminous crops, notably 

 lucerne. In the case of cane, i)hosphate alone has given poor results, but 

 when used as a manure on n preceding green dressing crop the subsequent 

 yield of cane was increased. Early ripening and greater purity of juice were 

 noticed. 



" In the Central Provinces there appeared to be no indication of the need 

 of phosphate in the black cotton soils. On the light soils of the Province it has 

 proved valuable in the case of paddy, sann-hemp, and cane. Experiments have 

 not gone far enough to indicate which form of phosphate is preferable. . . . 



"Taking India as a whole, there are suflicient supplies of phosphatic manures 

 from all sources to meet the present demands, but there are isolated localities 

 where the question of the supply of superphosphate in the immediate future 

 appears to be important." 



Phosphate rock in 1918. R. W. Stone (U. S. Geol. Survey, Min. Resources 

 XT. 8., 1918, pt. 2, pp. 11+199-222).— This report deals with the production and 

 sale of phosphate rock in the United States and other countries during 191S, 

 and with the distribution and character of deposits. 



Tlie phosphate rock marketed in the United States in 1918 amounted to 

 2.490,760 long tons, valued at $8,214,463. As compared with the production in 

 1917, there was a decrease in quantity of 93,527 tons and an increase in value 

 of $443,379. The quantity mined in 1918 was 2,284,245 long tons, a decrease 

 of 567,641 tons from the output of 1917. 



The decrease in production was general. In Florida the decrease was 

 443,247 tons, or 19 per cent, with 28 plants in operation, 9 less than in 1917 ; 

 in South Carolina 11,868 tons, or 26 per cent, with 3 producing plants, as in 

 1917 ; in Tennessee 108,160 tons, or 23.8 per cent, with 21 plants in operation, 



2 less than in 1917 ; and in the Western States 4,479 tons, or 27 per cent, with 



3 producers instead of 4. 



Triplite: A possible source of phosphoric acid, A. E. V. Zealley {Rhodesia 

 Munitions and Resources Com. Rpt. 1918, pp. J^l-J^S). — This is a brief note on 

 the occurrence in Rhodesia of triplite, a fluor-phosphate of manganese and iron 

 normally containing 30 to 35 per cent of phosphoric acid. It is said to be 

 easily soluble in hydrochloric acid and readily fusible, and occui's in a deposit 

 mined for the recovery of bismuth ore. Possibilities for the recovery of trip- 

 lite as a by-product of this process are discussed. 



On the manner of occurrence of potassium, nitrate in Oregon, T. Nattress 

 (Ann. Rpt. Midi. Acad. Sci., 20 (1918), pp. 51, 58).— This is a short note on the 

 potassium nitrate deposits in the Lake Lahontan region in Oregon. 



Samples taken from tlie bluff surfaces contained potash, sodium nitrate, and 

 potassium nitrate. Independent sampling done with consideration for the 

 bulk contents of the rock strata showed an average content of from 4 to 6 per 

 cent of potassium nitrate. " Weathering of the native rocks of the greater 



