2m 



On American Phosjjhate of Lime. 



curred was not stated. It was found by Professor Maskelyne, of 

 Oxford, to contain 95 per cent, of the phosphates of lime, iron, 

 and alumina. Its importation was made by Messrs. Jevons, of 

 Stamford-place, Liverpool. One vein alone, discovered in New 

 Jersey, would supply the English market for many years. 



3. In the State of New York a great mass of this mineral had 

 been discovered, and a shaft had already been sunk to the depth 

 of nearly 30 feet. This vein occurred at Crown Point, near 

 Lake Champlain^ in Essex County, and the abundance of the 

 mineral was so great as to lead to the conclusion that this mine 

 contained an inexhaustible supply ; the locality was also favour- 

 able for facility of transport and ready shipment. This vein 

 consisted of grains and crystals ; and on analysis, in America, 

 had been found to contain a much larger proportion than the 

 Jersey mineral, of which some specimens yielded only about 40 

 per cent, of the phosphate of lime, while the Crown Point 

 mineral^ as reported by Mr. Johnson, gave 80 per cent, of that 

 substance, free from chalk, containing only a small amount of 

 quartz in grains, and of the fluoride and chloride of lime. It is 

 very soft, and pulverizes easily, and is more readily dissolved 

 than the Jersey variety. It can be delivered in London in the 

 rough state, or powdered ready for use, as may be thought most 

 desirable. By single-horse power two tons a-day may easily be 

 ground. 



4. The price at which the Jersey phosphate was first offered 

 for sale at Liverpool was 5Z. bs. per ton ; but its interest imme- 

 diately ceased, in a commercial point of view, when the importers, 

 on fallacious grounds of supply and demand, injudiciously raised 

 the price to 71., forgetting that there were already other forms of 

 phosphate of lime in this country available to the English farmer. 

 It is now fully believed by moderate and intelligent Americans 

 that the United States phosphate can be afforded in the English 

 market at such a price as will render it a cheap fertilizer ; and, 

 as it can easily be reduced to powder, its value cannot be doubted, 

 provided it be treated with sulphuric acid, and thus rendered 

 suitable as a manure to those crops for which phosphate of lime 

 has been found by experience to be advantageous. 



5. Professor Johnston, of Durham, to whose personal visit to 

 the United States w^e probably owe the attention thus paid to this 

 mineral, occurring so abundantly in that part of the world, re- 

 marks : — " American farmers in general have not the knowledge 

 to appreciate the value of such a manuring substance as this, 

 nor the ability to purchase it when manufactured into superphos- 

 phate of lime ; the discovery, therefore, will be a boon, for the 

 present, to both countries. It will make more abundant and 

 cheap the means of fertility which our soils require ; while, by 



