A SURVEY OF THE FERTILIZER IN'DUSTR.Y. 



War Industries Board did not permit fertilizer manufacturers to 

 have any nitrate of soda for mixing, and allowed them only enough 

 for the manufacture of sulphuric acid, estimating roughly that their 

 requirements of nitrate of soda amounted to about 1 per cent of their 

 total sulphuric acid production. 



Most of the large fertilizer companies make their own acid phos- 

 phate. Such firms are known as wet mixers, of whom 104 reported. 

 Table III shows the quantity of material used in the manufacture of 

 acid phosphate during 1917 and during the first six months of 1918. 



Table III. — -Material used in the production of acid phosphate. 

 [2,000 pound tons.] 



Material. 



January 



to June 



inclusive, 



1918. 



Phosphate rock 



Steamed ground bone 



Raw ground bone 



Bone black 



Basic slag 



Other phosphatic materials 

 Sulphuric acid 



2,206,523 



71,925 



31,657 



986 



128 



484 



2, 135, 113 



1,172,124 



33,196 



22, 667 



600 



77 



326 



1,068,464 



The companies used more than 2,200,000 tons of phosphate rock 

 in the manufacture of acid phosphate during 1917, as compared with 

 only 72,000 tons of steamed ground bone, and 32,000 tons of raw 

 ground bone with small quantities of other phosphatic materials. 

 The quantity of sulphuric acid used is approximately the same as that 

 of the phosphorus-bearing materials. 



The production of phosphate rock was conducted by a number of 

 the fertihzer companies and by other producers, mostly in Florida. 

 Many of the big fertilizer companies are interested in the phosphate 

 fields and are producing their own rock. The total production of 

 phosphate rock amounted to 2,696,000 short tons, in 1918, as com- 

 pared with 2,588,000 short tons in .1917. The 1918 total is analyzed 

 in Table IV. 



Table IY. — Phosphate rock produced in 1918. 

 [2,00(>-pound tons.] 



ICind of rock. 



Short tons. 



Kind of rock. 



Short tons. 



Total.. 



2, 695, 543 



Tennessee: 







377,511 

 52, 777 

 51, 387 



Florida: 



42,840 



17, 736 



2, 141, 950 



Blue rock 



Soutii Carolina 





Utah 



1,532 





Idaho 



3,211 





Kentucky 



6,599 







The greatest production was of Florida land pebble (2,142,000 

 tons), which alone comprised about fom--fifths of the entire output. 

 Tennessee brown rock, of which 878,000 tons were mined, is next in 



