CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



of our animals, it would return to the soil only 

 what those animals carried away in their bones, 

 and that is indeed a small fraction of all the draft 

 our crops make upon the soil's supply of this one 

 substance. Some of the best animal bone goes 

 into the manufacture of articles that never con- 

 tribute anything to the soil, and there are other 

 sources of loss. The supply of phosphoric acid 

 from bone is too small, when compared with the 

 land's need, to deserve more than a small fraction 

 of the consideration it receives by users of com- 

 mercial fertilizers. 



The peculiar situation respecting animal bone 

 has come about through a form of deceit. The 

 demand for bone existed, and there was no legal 

 restraint in the matter of branding phosphatic 

 rock as " bone," " bone-phosphate," etc. In the 

 past, nearly all forms of rock-phosphates have 

 carried the word " bone " on the bag to quiet 

 the apprehension of those who entertained a 

 prejudice against anything other than animal 

 bone. Nearly all the phosphoric acid has come 

 from rock, and its use has been necessary and 

 profitable, but the misrepresentation fostered 

 the old-time prejudice. Within recent years 

 some manufacturers have tired of the seeming 



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