PRODUCTION OF FULLERS EARTH. 
167 
PRODUCTION OF FULLERS EARTH IN FLORIDA 
DURING 1910 AND 1911. 
By E. H. Sellards. 
The mining of fullers earth in Florida continued without not¬ 
able change during 1910. The plant of the Southern Fullers Earth 
Company, which had been working for some years a few miles east 
of River Junction, on the Seaboard Air Line Railway, was moved 
to a new locality on the Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railroad, 
near Havana. This company and the fullers earth business of the 
Owl Commercial Company at Quincy were combined during the 
year, and reorganized under the name of the Floridin Company. 
The Atlantic Refining Company plant at Ellenton, in Manatee 
County, continued operations during the year. The combined capac¬ 
ity of the plants now operating in Florida is about 20,000 to 30,000 
short tons annually. A detailed description of the fullers earth 
deposits of Florida lyas given in the Second Annual Report of the 
Florida Geological Survey, pages 251 to 291, 1909. 
While fullers earth serves various minor purposes it is used 
chiefly to clarify mineral and vegetable oils. It is a clay, and occurs 
in beds or strata. After being mined it is dried and ground. For 
mineral oils the earth, ground to 60 mesh or finer, is placed in a 
long cylinder. The crude oil is allowed to percolate slowly through 
the earth. The first oil that emerges is nearly water white, the 
color deepening as the process continues until the fullers earth is 
spent. For treatment with fullers earth the vegetable oils are heat¬ 
ed above the boiling point of water. Fullers earth to the amount 
of 5 to 10 per cent of the weight of the oil is then added and the 
mixture thoroughly stirred, after which the oil is filtered off through 
bag filters. The use of American fullers earth for clarifying vege¬ 
table oils is increasing. 
The total production of fullers earth in the United States dur¬ 
ing 1910 as reported by the United States Geological Survey was 
32,822 short tons, of which Florida produced 18,832 short tons. The 
average price of fullers earth during 1910 was $9.04 per short ton. 
The total amount of fullers earth imported into the United States 
during 1910 was 16,857 short tons, valued at $132,545. 
The following table of production of fullers earth in the United 
