232 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



opportunity of describing an easy and practical plan of manipu- 

 lation. 



In tlie first place, the bones should be reduced to a fine pow- 

 der by grinding. It will not do to have them simply beaten 

 into fragments, — they must be finely ground. After this is 

 accomplished, weigh the bone dust, and if there are fifty pounds, 

 take three bushels of ashes, three bushels of good earth, mix 

 the two, and form a mound upon a barn floor or out-housc, with 

 a cavity in the centre two and a half feet wide and two feet 

 deep. Have the walls of this cavity flattened with a sliovel and 

 made solid as possible, so as not to yield in the subsequent stir- 

 ring of .th.e bones. Place the bone dust in the cavity, and 

 fipriukie over and incorporate into it, two quarts of water, then 

 add very gradually six pounds of oil of vitriol, stirring con- 

 stantly. The materials will foam and rise up, and should not 

 be allowed to run over the top. Let the whole rest a day and a 

 night, tlicn add two quarts of water and six pounds of vitriol, 

 as before. Allow it to again rest twenty-four hours, and then 

 shovel the whole tpgether, ashes, earth and paste, and it will 

 form a rich heap ready for the field. It will be advantageous to 

 add a bushel or two of guano to the heap, as in case there is 

 any uncombined acid it will unite with the free ammonia and 

 form a sulphate, which will add much to its value. The great 

 difficulty is in the grinding of the bones. I know of no appara- 

 tus suitable for the purpose in our county. 



The economy and vigilance manifested in saving all fertilizing 

 material in England, and on the continent, is worthy of notice. 

 In Northern Italy and other parts of the continent, our carriage 

 was followed by children for miles, to secure the droppings of 

 our liorscs upon the road. Large heaps of manure were seen 

 by the side of dwellings, packed away as our farmers pack the 

 piimice in straw, in cider-making. Decayed leaves, road-dust, 

 soot from chimneys, — all is saved ; nothing that will cause a 

 plant to grow is overlooked. 



In arable husbandry, it seems to me, the Belgians far exceed 

 the English. Such fields of wheat and rye can no where else 

 be found in Europe. Every inch of land is under cultivation, 

 and not a blade of grass is allowed to grow even by the wayside, 

 without repeated croppings during the summer. The field of 

 Waterloo has not in the lapse of years forgotten the drenching 



