Checking the Waste | Page 8

It enters largely into the grain and seeds of
plants, and is necessary for their germination, or sprouting, as well as
their growth. Three-fourths of all the phosphorus in a crop of cereals is
in the grains, giving them size and weight. It will thus be seen how
necessary it is that the soil which feeds our plants, which in turn
become the food of animals and of man, should contain a sufficient
amount of phosphorus.
Phosphorus is taken from the soil in large quantities by every kind of
crop. In parts of Wisconsin which have been farmed a little more than
fifty years without fertilizing, it is found that about one-third of the
phosphorus has been taken out of the soil, which would mean that in
one hundred and fifty years, or a hundred years from now, the soil
would be incapable of producing any living thing, and long before that
time the crops would not pay for the labor of producing them. Almost
every acre of land that has been farmed for ten years without
fertilization is deficient in phosphorus, that is, so much has been used
that the soil can no longer produce at its former rate.
It may be asked, if this be true, why the soil of America, which before
it was cultivated had borne rich forests and fields of waving grass, has
not become exhausted long ago. We must remember that nature always
adjusts itself; that, in the wild state, all plants decay where they grow,
and the same elements are returned again to the soil. But when the

entire product of vast areas is removed year after year, the soil has
nothing except the slow rock-decay with which to renew itself.
In tropical regions it is not necessary to feed domestic animals at any
season of the year, but in those countries where the natural food can be
found only during a part of the year, the need of artificial feeding is
seen at once, and it becomes a part of the regular expense of farming.
It would be considered the height of folly for a man to allow his
valuable animals to starve to death because of the expense of feeding
them, but few people recognize the fact, which is also true, that it is
equally bad business policy to allow the valuable crops of wheat, oats,
and corn to starve for want of plant food.
The phosphates (that is, phosphorus) are the only large items of
expense, and in a large measure this may be lessened by raising live
stock, for which high prices can be obtained either as meat or dairy
products, and returning the manure, which contains a large amount of
phosphate, to the soil. If all the waste animal products could be
returned to the land, Professor Van Hise says, three-fourths of the
phosphorus would be replaced. All animal products are rich in
phosphates. The packing houses manufacture large quantities from the
bones and blood of animals.
The garbage of cities, when reduced to powder, yields large returns in
phosphorus. It is said that if the sewage of cities, which in this country
is often turned into rivers and streams, polluting them and causing
disease, was reduced to commercial fertilizer, it would supply the
equivalent of from six to nine pounds of rock phosphate per year for
every acre of cultivated land in the United States. And this valuable
product is now totally lost, and worse than lost, since it menaces the
life and health of great numbers of our people.
There still remain to be considered the rock phosphates, the form in
which phosphorus is found in separate deposits. The only large deposits
that have been used are in Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and
from them about two and a quarter million tons were mined in 1907.
Unfortunately, however, there is no law that prevents its export from

this country, and almost half of this found its way to Europe, where it is
eagerly sought at high prices.
Within a short time valuable phosphate beds, more extensive than any
before known to exist in this country, have been discovered in Utah,
Wyoming, and Idaho. Professor Van Hise, who is one of the highest
authorities on the subject, says of these deposits that with the exception
of our coal and iron lands, they are our most precious mineral
possession; that every ounce should be saved for the time which is
coming when the population will have outgrown the capacity of the
land, and means of increasing its fertility in order to prevent famine
will be sought from every possible source.
The other great waste of the soil is by erosion, or the wearing away of
the soil by stream-flow. We can all see this in a small way by