APPENDIX 599 



three islands have deposits which are estimated to aggregate 60,000,000 

 tons of high-grade phosphate rock. 



It would appear certain that the phosphate deposits of the United 

 States are to be drained for the benefit of the worn-out farm lands of 

 foreign countries. So far as the deposits of Florida, Tennessee, and 

 South Carolina are concerned, this cannot be easily prevented, but it 

 has been suggested that "the production of the newly opened Western 

 fields may be preserved for the United States by retaining, in the govern- 

 ment, title to all the phosphate rock in the lands now belonging to the 

 United States, and by leasing these deposits under appropriate terms. 

 In the lease could be included a clause providing that the lessee shall 

 agree to mine phosphate rock only for domestic consumption." 



SECTION II 



MODEL FERTILIZER LAW 



The following is offered as a model law for governing the sale of com- 

 mercial fertilizers, conforming to a report adopted by the Association of 

 American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. (See Pro- 

 ceedings l Twelfth Annual Convention (1906), page 128, Bulletin 184, of 

 the Office of Experiment Stations, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture ; also Proceedings 2 24th Annual Convention of the Association 



1 " Providing concurrent action is taken by the Association of Official Agricul- 

 tural Chemists and the American Chemical Society, your committee favors the 

 adoption of the element system for reporting analytical results in the analysis of 

 soils, ashes, and fertilizers, and recommends that the association urge those respon- 

 sible for fertilizer legislation to have the laws changed, if necessary, and as soon 

 as practicable, to meet with these recommendations, if concurred in." 



" The committee also recommends that in case: of the adoption of the foregoing 

 there be required to be printed on the bag or on the tag to be attached to the bag 

 or to accompany fertilizers sold in bulk an explanatory statement naming the 

 materials in which the plant food is carried." 



2 " That the association vote upon the advisability of permitting the use of a 

 dual system of nomenclature, where desirable, with a view to the ultimate adoption 

 of the element system for reporting the analysis of fertilizers, soils, ash, etc." 



" That the suggestion of the committee looking toward the ultimate adoption 

 of the element system be approved, but that no state should discontinue the use of 

 the terms now in use until such discontinuation is also approved by this associa- 

 tion, and that meanwhile the subject should be brought before the International 

 Congress of Applied Chemistry in an effort to secure international agreement." 



NOTE. In the author's opinion, international agreement will never be secured, 

 judging from the systems in vogue for money, weights and measures, etc. If secured, 



