THE CULTIVATOR. 
187 
PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 
To the late Geologists of the State of New-York : 
The subscriber read the Geological Reports as they ap¬ 
peared annually, and was astonished, and at the same time 
delighted, with the mass of information they contained. 
The mineral riches of the State, and the heretofore con¬ 
cealed treasures brought to light by your researches, are 
great beyond measure. They give promise of future be¬ 
nefit to the country, the development of our resources, 
and the increase of commerce, the arts and agriculture. 
The subscriber being a cultivator of the soil, is only in¬ 
terested in the latter, which he thinks may be assisted 
and improved by your labors. The knowledge of these, 
however, must be known to be appreciated, and the vol¬ 
umes containing the result of your researches, should be 
diffused through the community that has contributed to 
the expense. If the Legislature should dispose of the 
volumes of printed reports by selling or giving them 
away, the valuable mass of information they contain, 
would be sooner spread before the public, and the sooner 
would that public reap the advantages to be derived from 
your scientific labors. I am departing however, from 
the object in view in commencing this article. 
In reading your reports (which are not now at hand,) 
I recollect it is noticed that in several counties of this 
State, Apatite, Phosphorite or the Phosphate of lime was 
discovered in more than one district, but the quantity or 
accessibility is not stated. Late agricultural writers 
speak of the value and importance of the phosphates as 
fertilizers of an exhausted soil. Now I would respect¬ 
fully inquire if those phosphates you discovered were in 
any considerable quantity, and if they were so accessible 
as to be easily obtained for agricultural purposes? My 
reasons for making this request, will be seen in reading 
the following extracts from Liebig's “ Familiar Letters 
on Chemistry,” &c. lately published in New-York city. 
In the 16th letter he observes—“ My recent researches 
into the constituent ingredients of our cultivated fields, 
have led me to the conclusion that of all the elements 
furnished to plants by the soil and ministering to their 
nourishment, the phosphate of lime, or rather the phos¬ 
phates generally, must be regarded as the most impor¬ 
tant.” 
“ In order to furnish you with a clear idea of the im¬ 
portance of the phosphates, it may be sufficient to re¬ 
mind you of the fact, that the blood of man and animals, 
beside common salt, always contains alkaline and earthy 
phosphates. If we burn blood and examine the ashes 
which remain, we find certain parts of them soluble in 
water, and others insoluble. The soluble parts are com¬ 
mon salt and alkaline phosphates; the insoluble consist 
of phosphate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, and oxide 
of iron.”—p. 173. 
Again he says: “It is a most curious fact, that if we 
incinerate grain or its flour, peas, beans and lentils, we 
obtain ashes, which are distinguished from the ashes of 
all other parts of vegetables by the absence of alkaline 
carbonates. The ashes of these seeds, when recently 
prepared, do not effervesce with acids; their soluble in¬ 
gredients consist solely of alkaline phosphates, the inso¬ 
luble parts of phosphate of lime, phosphate of magnesia 
and oxide of iron; consequently, of the very same salts 
which are contained in blood, and which are absolutely 
indispensible to its formation. We are thus brought to 
the further indisputable conclusion that no seed suitable 
to become food for man and animals can be formed in 
any plant without the presence and co-operation of the 
phosphates. A field in which phosphate of lime or the 
alkaline phosphates form no part of the soil, is totally in¬ 
capable of producing grain, peas or beans.”—p. 174. 
“ In a former letter I showed you how great a waste 
of phosphates is unavoidable in England, and referred to 
the well known fact that the importation of bones resto¬ 
red in a most admirable manner the fertility of the fields 
exhausted from this cause.” 
cc Another proof of the efficacy of the phosphates in 
restoring fertility to exhausted land, is afforded by the 
use of the guano —a manure, which, although of recent 
introduction into England, has found such general and 
extensive application.”—p. 176. 
Liebig further advises us that “ If a rich and cheap 
source of phosphate of lime and the alkaline phosphates 
were open to England, there can be no question that the 
importation of foreign grain might be altogether dispen¬ 
sed with after a short time.”—p. 177. 
The value of the phosphates is also acknowledged by 
Johnston in his “ Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry 
and Geology.” In the first volume of the edition lately 
published in New-York by Wiley & Putnam, when 
speaking of phosphoric acid, he says, (p. 274,) « It 
unites however, with potash, soda, lime, &c. to form 
compounds known by the name of phosphates. In these 
states of combination, it is almost universally diffused 
throughout nature, and appears to be essentially necessa¬ 
ry to the healthy growth and maturity of all living—cer¬ 
tainly of all cultivated vegetables.” 
Again, when speaking of the earth of bones, and the 
several forms of the phosphate of lime, he observes (p. 
293, vol. 1,) that “In some parts of the world a hard 
mineral substance, commonly known by the name of 
Apatite, occurs in considerable quantity. It consists 
chiefly of a phosphate of lime, which differs but slightly 
in its constitution, from the earth of bones—containing 
54^ per cent of lime; while the latter contains only 51| 
per cent. The composition of this mineral would lead 
us to expect it to possess a favorable action upon vege¬ 
tation, and this anticipation has been confirmed by some 
experiments made with it by Sprengel.” 
“It occurs occasionally in mineral veins, especially 
such as are found in the granitic and slate rocks. Masses 
of it are met with in Cumberland, in Cornwall, in Fin¬ 
land, in the iron mines of Arendahl in Norway, and in 
many other localities. A variety of it, distinguished by 
the name of phosphorite, is said to form beds at Schlack- 
enwalde in Bohemia, and in the province of Estremadu- 
ra in Spain. From the last of these localities being the 
most accessible, the time may come when the high 
price of bones may induce our enterprising merchants to 
import it, for the purpose of being employed in a. finely 
powdered state as a fertilizer of the land.”—(Lect. 9th.) 
The first American edition of Johnston contained but 
nine lectures, and was published in New-York while 
they were in the progress of delivery. This second edi¬ 
tion contains eighteen lectures, and in the fifteenth, 
when speaking of bone earth, (vol. 2, p. 71,) it is ob¬ 
served, “ Burned bones were formerly employed in 
England, but the practice has gradually fallen into dis¬ 
use, and the same is the case in Germany. This is no 
proof, however, that the native phosphate of Estremadu- 
ra—already, it is said, imported into Ireland for agricul¬ 
tural purposes—would not benefit many soils if applied 
in the state of a sufficiently fine powder.” 
These opinions and facts are laid before the readers 
of the Cultivator, and will demonstrate in this instance 
how agriculture may be advanced by the sciences of ge¬ 
ology and mineralogy; and the late geologists are re¬ 
spectfully requested to collect from their several reports, 
and give a summary of the localities of the phosphate of 
lime and their quantities, &c. to be published in the Cul¬ 
tivator. The subscriber, as one of the tax-payers of the 
State, is pleased and well satisfied with their labors, ten¬ 
ders them his thanks and best wishes for their welfare. 
He could not but smile at the scruples of his old friend 
Judge Scott of New-York, one of the State Senators, in 
returning to the care of the Secretary of State, a copy of 
the Geological Reports, which was appropriated to him 
as a member of the Legislature. The plunder of the 
public (a portion of the « spoils” of victory,) was so 
small in this case, that if he had retained it, given it to 
some public institution, or deposited it in some library, 
where it could be read; in neither case would it have di¬ 
minished his vote at the next election, should he again 
be a candidate, and certainly it would not have cnanged 
the vote of his former associate in a benevolent institu¬ 
tion. A Practical Farmer 
Staten Island, March 25, 1844. 
Mr. J. R. Barbour, a great silk authority, says that the 
valley of the Ohio has gone ahead of New England in the 
production of raw silk. He thinks that the West anc4 
South will take the lead in the growth of silk. 
