No. 63. 79 



anxious to be freed from. In Spain, the celebrated asparagus of Sa- 

 ragossa is grown on beds of loose gravel and sand, but a little above 

 the flow of the tide; but these beds are heavily manured, after the 

 cutting of the season is closed, with fresh night soil dug in, and thus 

 their fertility is sustained, and the unrivaled character of the Sara- 

 gossa asparagus maintained. 



Bones, ground or crushed, form another powerful manure; and al- 

 though but little used as yet in this country, there are some indica- 

 tions, such as the erection of mills for crushins; them, that their 

 Bones. ' o ' 



use will soon become extensive, and our farmers be saved the 



mortifying spectacle, so long witnessed here, of seeing ship loads of 



bones exported to Europe, used by farmers there, and returned to us 



in the products of the soil. Col. St. Leger of Wormsworth, was the 



first to introduce bone manuring into England in 1775; but it was 



many years before their value was fully understood; and it was only 



in connection with the turnep culture, that they came into general 



use. The manner in which bones act as manures, and their value, 



will be best seen by a statement of their constituents. The bones of 



the ox, according to Berzelius, contain in 100 parts: 



Cartilage, 33 . 3 



Phosphate of lime, 55 . 35 



Fluate of lime, 3 . 



Carbonate of lime, 3 . 85 



Phosphate of magnesia, 2 . 05 



Soda, with a little common salt, 2.45 



100. 



The analysis of Fourcroy and Vauquelin, gives: 



Gelatine and oil, 51. 



Phosphate of lime, 37 . 7 



Carbonate of lime, 10 . 



Phosphate of magnesia, 1.3 



100. 

 Johnson, in his lately published work on Fertilizers, says: •' Dry 



bones contain about two-thirds their weight of earthy matter, the oth- 

 er third chiefly of animal matter, resembling glue. Of the earthy 

 matter, five-sixths consist of phosphate of lime and magnesia. A 

 ton of bone dust, contains of 



Animal matter, about 746 lbs. 



Phosphate of lime, &c 1 ,245 lbs. 



Carbonate of lime, &c 249 lbs." 



