THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



165 



he contended that the meeting had no power to alter the 

 most essential of the man'iage articles between the East 

 and tlie West. Upon the faith of the present under- 

 standing a good many West Noj-folk men had joined the 

 Society : and nothing was so injurious to an association of 

 this sort as bad faitli. It appeared that the East 

 Norfolk men showed sucli very moderate stock, 

 that they rarely got prizes to take home with them, 

 and they would prefer, perhaps, to show their animals 

 against those of their neighbours ; but he contended that, 

 after all, the prizes should go to those who moat deserved 

 them. They wanted to compare bad things with bad 

 things ; but it was an immense advantage to show bad 

 things with good things. Allusion had been made to the 

 Suffjlk members, who showed ahnost entirely horses and a 

 pig or two (laughter). Their horses were bret and reared 

 for show, and nothing else, and he did not think a little 

 walkmg exercise would do them the leaat harm in the world 

 (laughter). 



Mr. Read said he was not at all wedded to East Norfolk, 

 and he should be quite content to see the society meet 

 alternately at Norwich, Swatfham, and Dereham. What 

 the Swaffham people had done, the Derenam people would 

 do for the societj', being ready to grant the free use of a 

 piece of ground, apd also to give a liberal subscription. 



Mr. Hamond : I live in West Norfolk ; I em wedded to 

 my lawful wife ; and I don''t think anything but §ir Cress- 

 well Cresswell ought to separate us. We have not been 

 through the court yet (laughter). 



Mr. Read : We are now in it, I suppose (laughter). 



A division was then taken, and there appeared, for Mr. 

 Read's motion, 15 ; against it, 19. The present arrange- 

 ment will, therefore, not be disturbed. 



The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the 

 chairman. 



BONE MANURE. 



Sir,— You would greatly oblige if you could give an in- 

 dication to some experiments in the application of ground 

 bones as manure for corn, grass, and green crop. Those 

 comparative of effects of steamed ueriu« unsteamed bones 

 would be most valuable. Most farmers are still ignorant 

 of the great value of bones as manure. 

 Yours, &c., 



A Constant Reader. 

 Ulversione. 



Bone manure is universally considered one of the 

 best kinds that can be applied to the land, whether 

 for corn, grass, or root crops, and its extensive 

 and increasing use is a proof of the estimation in which 

 it is held. Not only are the bones of those animasl 

 slaughtered in this country employed as manure, 

 but nearly 80,000 tons per annum are imported 

 from foreign countries, chiefly for the same purpose, 

 and yet the supply is by no moans equal to the de- 

 mand. Had not the importation of guano commenced 

 about the year 1840, it is probable that bones would 

 have risen to .£10 or £12 per ton. 



" That bones must be beneficial as manure," says 

 Mr. Nesbit, in his pamphlet on Agricultural Chem- 

 istry, "will appear from a very simple considera- 

 tion. Animals are fed upon vegetables, and the whole 

 of their bodily structure grows out of the food, or is 

 eliminated and formed from it. If the food did not 

 contain phosphate of lime, the bony structure of the 

 body could not be built up. If the soil in which vege- 

 tables grow did not contain phosphate of lime, the seeds 

 of vegetables could not be matured. Supposing the 

 arable land of this country to have been robbed for a 

 thousand years of phosphate of lime, and never to have 

 received any back again ; assuming this ingredient 

 to have been continually exported in the shape of milk, 

 cheese, sheep, and oxen, it is clear that unless the land 

 had an unlimited amount of phosphate, which we 

 know is not the case, there must have been a propor- 

 tionate diminution in the quantity of such materials. 

 Hence it is that when certain substances which had 

 been taken out for a long period have been again sud- 

 denly applied, land worth hardly 5s. per acre has 

 sprung up to the value of 159., and there has been an 

 enormous increase of crops." 



One of the most valuable qualities of bones is the 

 slowness with which they decompose, and the length of 

 time during which they continue to give out the phos- 

 phates. It is found upon analysis that one pound of 

 bones contains as much phosphoric acid as 28 pounds 



of wheat or of 250 pounds of potatoes. Now, a crop of 

 wheat of four quarters per acre, and reckoninnf it at 

 601bs. per bushel, weighs, in round numbers, 2,0001bs., 

 which contains only as much phosphate as is found in 

 71 lbs. of bones. It is clear therefore that if the bones 

 are put on at the rate of 3^ cwt. per acre, supposing 

 them to decompose rapidly and give out the phosphates 

 in proportion, a large proportion would be wasted. 

 But that this is not the case the following circum- 

 stances i)rove. A gentleman, who occupieci a large 

 farm in Norfolk, finding, towards the close of his 

 wheat-sowing, that he v/as likely to have a considerable 

 quantity of bone-dust left, if he continued distributing- 

 it at the ordinary race, directed his foreman to increase 

 the quantity. On going to the field the following day- 

 he found that the man had dciibled the a'lowanee, and 

 that instead of having any to spare, he would not, at 

 that rate, have enough to finish manuring the remain- 

 ing seeding land. He therefore told him to go 

 back to the usual quantity of about 4 cwfc. per 

 acre, at which rate the field was finished. The 

 crop of wheat proved a very heavy one, as well 

 as the succeeding crop of turnips, on that part of 

 the land which was thus doubly dosed with bone-dust. 

 Now mark what follows. Eleven years after, the far- 

 mer on riding with a friend over his land, came to this 

 field, which was again, for the third time after the 

 above occurrence, under wheat. On entering it, he re- 

 quested his friend, if he should, in riding down the fur- 

 row, find any difference in the growth of the wheat, to 

 point it out. After riding a few yards into the wheat 

 he suddenly stopped. " What in all the world have 

 you been after here ?" he exclaimed. " This wheat is 

 six inches higher, and as" stout again as the rest ; how 

 came this to pass?" The farmer then explained to 

 him the occurrence we have related, and which proves 

 not only the value of bones as a manure for a single 

 crop, but that by the deliberate manner in which they 

 give out the phosphates in decomposition, they possess 

 a more permanent value than any other kind of 

 manure. 



But bones are not only valuable on account of the 

 phosphoric acid they contain : they also contain nitro- 

 gen in the proportion, according to some chemists, of 

 six, and of ethers, of four per cent. As the bones de- 

 compose this becomes ammonia, the value of which in 

 manure is now well understood by almost all agi-icaltu- 

 rists. The conversion of bones into superphosphate of 

 lime by the addition of sulphuric acid, by precipitating the 

 decomposition, probably alters the conditions, by cans- 



