MIX WITH FERMENTING MANURE. 67 



a farmer to use at $60 a ton, and another substance may 

 be very dear at $10 a ton. So that I think, as a general 

 thing, we had better depend upon those who make a busi- 

 ness of manipulating and manufacturing this article into 

 superphosphate. As to the value and economy of the use of 

 superphosphates, when they are honestly made, there can be 

 no question. It is perfectly certain. Not only intelligent 

 farmers, but intelligent scientific men, all over the world, 

 have come to the conclusion that artificial fertilizers must 

 come in as a necessary adjunct in first-class farming every- 

 where. It is a matter of necessity. The very fact that they 

 have increased so enormously all over the civilized world 

 shows the necessity and economy of their use. 



Now, in regard to the question of Mr. Strong, I can only 

 say that I know of no direct and detailed experiments which 

 have been made to test the practical value of this article, but 

 there is no question that it would have the same results 

 as other superphosphate manufactured with fresh or crude 

 bone. It is just as good, so far as its mechanical and eco- 

 nomical composition is concerned, as superphosphate made 

 of fresh bone. So far as that is concerned, there can be no 

 difference. If you get a certain amount of phosphoric acid, 

 it is identically the same substance, no matter where you get 

 it from, and the results are the same. I would recommend the 

 use of it in a crude, finely ground form, mixed in the manure- 

 heap at the barn, because in that way the farmer can replace, 

 gradually and economically and at very small cost, the phos- 

 phoric acid which he has been dragging out of his soil by the 

 crops which he has been cultivating. We have been taking from 

 our soils for a century vast amounts of phosphoric acid. We 

 can replace it, at comparatively little cost, in the way I have 

 suggested, and more economically, as it seems to me, than 

 we could by the manufactured superphosphates. I think 

 that they ought to be used also, and that we should endeavor 

 to get all the fertilizing substances we can. 



Dr. Sturtevant. In 1872 I had occasion to spend some 

 little time in Charleston, and travelled somewhat extensively 

 through the Border States. Through the courtesy of Prof. 

 Shepard, I was given admittance to the phosphate factories at 

 Charleston, and made quite a thorough investigation of them, 



