66 THE AMERICAN FARMER 



mixing them in a large barrel or hogshead, in alternate layers, with wood ashes, the layers to 

 be each three or four inches deep. When the bones are thus disposed of, wet the whole with 

 urine from the cattle or horse stable (which can easily be saved by placing a tank under the 

 stable-floor) there should be a sufficient quantity of the liquid manure to wet the whole mass 

 thoroughly. After fermenting a few weeks, the bones will be sufficiently soft to be easily 

 crushed with the shovel, and they can then be mixed with dry earth, road-dust, muck, or any 

 other dry absorbent, and are ready for use. 



Some use water only, first making a hole in the bottom of the barrel and covering it 

 with straw for a filter, placing a tank underneath to receive the lye. As the lye accumulates in 

 the tank, it is again poured into the barrel. This is to be continued daily, with perhaps 

 occasionally a little addition of water to restore the quantity lost by evaporation. A month 

 or two of warm weather, it is said, will render the bones soft and ready to be mixed for use. 

 The addition of a little caustic potash of commerce will hasten the operation and give 

 increased value to the manure. The use of liquid manure is preferable to water for this 

 purpose. 



A recent writer gives the following method of reducing bones with lye: 



&quot; Where unleached ashes are easily obtained, bones can be reduced to a very fine state by 

 boiling them in strong lye. This eats them up with great rapidity. We have reduced a half 

 ton of them in a day with two four-barrel kettles. The fine bone must be frequently taken 

 from the bottom of the kettle with a shovel made of the proper shape, to keep it from burning 

 on the bottom. When the bone is reduced to a fine state in this way, it is not all soluble, as 

 in the case of being reduced with acid, but it is so fine that it becomes soluble in a short time, 

 by the action of the air and soil. When the wood-ashes can be obtained, this is an excellent 

 way to reduce bones, as it may be considered very cheap, since the potash or lye is all saved 

 in the manure, and is worth all it costs. The leached ashes are also valuable as a manure, and 

 the only expense that can properly be counted in reducing the bones by this method is the 

 labor. Although the fine bone reduced with lye is not so soluble as that dissolved in 

 sulphuric acid, yet it is more rapidly dissolved by the action of air and soil than fine ground 

 bone. Dry earth is excellent to mix with this lye-reduced bone, if it is to be applied in the 

 hill to potatoes or corn; but if it is to be applied through a drill with grain, or corn planted 

 with drill, it must be dried with some dry, fine sifted material, such as coal-ashes, or dried 

 and sifted clay, lime, or land-plaster. 



We have found this the best application for potatoes. We might expect this result, as 

 the ash of the potato is 59 per cent, potash and 20 per cent, phosphoric acid, and these two 

 most important elements are the principal ones in this manure. We have also found it suc 

 cessful upon wheat, oats, rye and grass.&quot; 



It is a custom with the German farmers to decompose even the ground bone, before 

 applying it to the soil; for this purpose they mix it with sawdust or dried peat, and pour 

 over it liquid manure or water, letting it stand in piles about a week to ferment, then turn it 

 over and mix it with earth and put it upon the field, where it is either plowed under quite 

 shallow, or harrowed under rather deeply. It is often composted with manure to advantage, 

 .the bone-dust and manure acting and re-acting upon each other in the process of fermenta 

 tion, producing a valuable fertilizer. 



Bones can be pulverized by burning, but this drives off the organic matter, which con 

 tains nitrogen, and hence greatly diminishes their value ; it leaves, however, the phosphate of 

 lime, which is a very rich fertilizer. 



A very good manure can be made by the use of sulphuric acid in reducing bones, but it 

 must be used with the greatest caution, as it will make the hands sore, and spoil clothing, if 

 they come in contact with it. 



Old bones that have been lying about the farm for a long time exposed to all kinds of 



