CHAPTER VI 

 PHOSPHORUS 



Origin of Phosphate Rock, Basic Slag, Bone Meal, Ammonium 

 Sulphate, Sodium Nitrate, Organic Nitrogenous Materi- 

 als, Potash and Guano. 



IT is a well-known fact that phosphorus is an 

 element and like the element iron, is almost uni- 

 versally distributed over the globe, and is found 

 in all living things. Therefore, it is reasoned that 

 it may like iron, be accumulated in large beds 

 by natural law which governs the concentration 

 of mineral masses. Again it is suggested that 

 phosphoric acid, derived from mollusca, deposits 

 from birds, fish and saurians, has filtered down and 

 replaced the carbonic acid in the underlying lime- 

 stone, converting it into phosphate of lime. It is 

 true that in many instances the phosphate of lime 

 very rarely contains any trace of organic remains, 

 while the limestone on which it rests abounds in the 

 casts of mollusca in some sections of the Southern 

 States. Then again, in proximity to the hard rock 

 phosphate is a soft phosphate of lime that has the 

 consistency of soft plastic clay. This soft phos- 

 phate often underlies the hard rock and is several 

 feet in thickenss. This condition prevails in the 

 hard rock phosphate section of Florida. 



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