294 SYSTEMS OF PERMANENT AGRICULTURE 



resolution quoted was passed, states that from "real exact experiments," con- 

 ducted by such authorities as P. Wagner, Tacke, Bottcher, Lemmerman and 

 others, "but little fertilizing effect was shown." 



Further experiments made by Czerhati, L. Key, Clausen, and others, led to 

 similar results just stated. 



The same report states that, "From the present experiments it can be con- 

 cluded with certainty that the general use of earthly phosphates (RAW ROCK 

 PHOSPHATE) cannot be considered as phosphoric acid fertilization." Phos- 

 phoric acid is the only element this material contains, and if IT is NOT available 

 it is useless for fertilizing purposes. 



The experiment station officials of Germany have gone on record against the 

 use of RAW ROCK PHOSPHATE in no uncertain tone. Their opinion is shared, 

 with but one or two exceptions, by all the experiment stations in this country. 

 If THIS material cannot be recommended for German soils, where proper 

 fertilization has been studied for so many years, is it not folly to attempt its use 

 on the comparatively fresh soils of this country? 



This report also refers to some recent experiments conducted by parties en- 

 deavoring to promote the sale of raw rock phosphate in Europe. In comment- 

 ing on the so-called tests or experiments, the German report states that they 

 "were carried out with but very little exactness." They further class these 

 experiments as "entirely unfounded, have been rejected by scientific agricul- 

 turists, and especially by Wagner, Tacke, and Bottcher, in a manner not to be 

 misunderstood." 



The said representations of these promoters are classed as "A very serious 

 deception," and misleading to the farmers. 



The efforts to promote the sale of RAW ROCK PHOSPHATE in this country 

 in the light of world-wide failure to show any appreciable fertilizing effect 

 can only be classed, in the language of the German experimenters, as "a very 

 serious deception," and misleading to the farmers. 



Not alone in Germany have experiments with RAW ROCK PHOSPHATE proven 

 very unsatisfactory. Professor F. H. Storer, in Volume I of his book "Agri- 

 culture," in speaking of the value of raw phosphate USED IN CONNECTION 

 WITH MANURE, as compared with superphosphate, says: "This question would 

 seem to have been answered long ago, in so far as good land is concerned, by the 

 common English practice of using superphosphates." 



Again, later, in comparing the effects of the same materials for fertilizing 

 purposes in European countries, he says: "For Europe at least, i.e., for fertile 

 districts, the question has been decided fully long ago and most emphatically 

 in favor of superphosphate. It has been decided by the long-continued experi- 

 ments of a multitude of farmers, and their conclusion has been plainly expressed 

 by the ever increasing demand for superphosphate." 1 



1 Director Hall of Rothamsted, in his "Fertilizers and Manures" (1909), page 

 118, says: "The mineral phosphates have been but little employed directly as 

 manures, though there is plenty of evidence that when they are really finely 

 ground, they are effective enough on soils retaining plenty of water." C. G. H. 



