w ram 



be. In its freah lUtc it is only soluble in very warm water, anil the 

 oil rspsls moisture. Thii accounts for the Meming anomaly u{ the 

 superiority of boiled bone* ; they hare undergone a fermentation. The 

 residue, although not deprived of all iU animal matter, is much more 

 porous, and wifl imbibe and retain moisture in its pores. The food of 

 the plants U bare ready prepared and dissolved, and kept in (tore with- 

 out Mag in danger of being waahed through a porous nil or evaporated 

 by the beat. All parta of the bone contribute ultimately to the fertility 

 of the wit IU nUluwus Slid faUy parts, thoiigh a protection to the 

 t the destructive action of air and rain-water, an themselves 

 liable to decomposition, and yield by that process soluble 

 product* 'available for the food of plant*. It u in this fact that the 

 value of eren frcab bonea aa manure lies. The explanation of the 

 p sat n value of bones boiled and even burned, and of bonea reduced to 

 powder for manure, liea in the fact that thin gelatinous and fatty 

 envelop*, though shortly becoming utilised itself, u in the mean time a 

 Miwl..m to the action of those atmospheric solvents which would 

 reduce the mineral part of the bone to a soluble condition. 



It is ascertained that the effect of bones on the crop U much in- 

 creased when they have been previously mixed in heaps with ashes, 

 burnt day, or light louii, or made into a compost with the dung of 

 animals, and with vegetable aubtances. In this case, the fresh bone* 

 will evidently be much more advantageous than those which have been 

 boiled ; for the fermentation will extract and decompose the oil and a 

 great part of the gelatine, which, mixed with the other ingredients of 

 the T"t, will much enrich them ; while the bony residue will be 

 in the same state as it would have been if the bones had come from 

 the boiling-house. By comparing all the facts, we naturally come to 

 the conclusion, that the most economical use of bones is to extract 

 from them the oil and gelatine, which if not of sufficient value for the 

 manufacture of glue or of ammonia, may be used an a supplementary 

 food for pigs, in the form of a broth or not liquor, which, mixed with 

 meal, will greatly accelerate their growth or increase their fat. For 

 this purpose the bones should be broken in the mill to a moderate 

 Ue. like those called iWA bones ; they should then be boiled or 

 ttnnvH for several hours, and the liquor strained ; this, on cooling, 

 will be found to form an nimnl jelly of more or less strength, which 

 may be thickened by boiling, and finally dried into a glue or portable 

 iwup, which will keep for a considerable time. 



The price of fuel and attendance being calculated, it will be seen 

 whether this operation is a real economy or not : if not, the bonea may 

 be allowed to ferment in a heap, being mixed with sand or coal-aahee. 

 In this case, they may be ground at once to the size called half-inch ; 

 in the other, they may be passed again through the mill after having 

 been boiled. 



Till within the last few years the mode of applying bone-manure to 

 the land has been either by sowing from 20 to 40 bushel* of them per 

 acre by the hand broadcast, and harrowing them in with the seed ; or 

 by putting them into the drills by a machine made for the purpose, 

 which is an addition to the common drilling-machine. This was the 

 most approved method, and the crop for which they are best adapted 

 U turnips, after the land has been well cleaned and tilled. About 

 25 bushels per acre was sufficient to produce a good crop on poor light 

 sands, and it did not appear that beyond this quantity they had a 

 proportional effect. It is better therefore to repeat the dressing than 

 to put on much at once. When used as a top-dressing for grass-land, 

 they have produced a great and very durable improvement, when the 

 quantity was Urge. 



When bones used thus were compared with farm-yard dung the 

 result has been various, and chiefly owing to the seasons and the 

 nature of the land. In strong loams or in very moist seasons the 

 farm-yard dung, put on at the rate of from 10 to 15 tons per acre, hod 

 decidedly the advantage, not only for the turnips but for the sub- 

 sequent crops. On very dry gravelly soils and in dry summers the 

 bones produced the best turnips ; and when the comparative cost was 

 taken into consideration, and the saving of time in the light carriage of 

 the bones, the bones proved to be the more economical. Many large 

 tracts of waste land have been brought into cultivation by means of 

 bones, as the only manure which could be procured, and without 

 which they must have remained in a barren state. A great advantage 

 of manuring land with them is that they introduce no weeds, which 

 farm-yard dung inevitably does. 



The mill which is used to break and grind bones consists of one or 

 more pairs of iron or steel cylinders, with grooves running round their 

 circumference, the projection, being cut so as to form strong teeth. 

 Tbeac turn upon one another by means of machinery, so that the teeth 

 of one run in the groove between the teeth of the other, as may be 

 seen in the annexed cut. 



Aa instrument has also been invented for distributing bones, ashes, 

 rape-dust, and similar dry manure* in the drills at the same time with 

 UM seed. It consists of a very simple o-Miti.,,, u> the common 

 drOuag msfhme, and is described under the word DRILL 



Tbe bones put in the hopper o are seised by the teeth of the two 

 par cylinders sad broken in pieces, which fall in between the lower 

 ir, where they are reduced to a smaller sue. From these they fall on 

 . slantine; board o, and slide into the wire cylinder. All the smaller 

 pieces pees through the interstices of the wire : those which have not 

 been sufficiently broken come out at the end, and are returned into 



BONES. :.! 



the upper hopper. Where a machine of this description can be 

 to water- or wind-mill, or to a steam-engine, the bones are 



[End elevation of Bone.grinding Machine.] 

 C 



[Side Flan of the Bone-grinding Mat-bine.] 



A A U the frame of a bone-mill strongly fixed to the floor ; B the axU of the 

 machinery, which is turned by the lever c c, to which the power i applied ; 

 x B U a horizontal wheel with bevelled teeth moving * vertical wheel p, on 

 the axis of which one- of the cylinder* with groove* and teeth in fixed. At 

 the other end of the axil is a smaller wheel a, taming a similar one, u, on 

 the axis of the other cylinder, making the toothed surfacn turn toward* 

 each other, and thua cruihing between them the bonei which the hopper o 

 uppllrs. Another pair of cylinder* similar to the flrit, but it)i smaller 

 teeth, ore turned by mean* of the intermediate wheel i working in the 

 wheel L Bxed to the axla on which it a larger wheel x, working In a pinion 

 which turn* the cylindrical alevc N. The nrrotrt Indicate the direction of 

 the motion. 



broken at a small expense; when horses are used the expense is 

 greater ; and a hand-mill can only be of use where there is a great 

 superabundance of manual labour, and only a small quantity of bones 

 in required. 



\\ li.'ii reduced to a dust or rough powder liy means of such a machine 

 the bone is the better fitted to feed the plant, just in proportion to 

 the greater quantity of surface exposed to the action of atmospheric 

 solvents, which is thus conferred upon n given quantity of the material. 

 The finer the dust the more rapidly will it yield its substance to the 

 dissolving action of rain-water ; and the more competent therefore is 

 a smaller quantity to supply the demands of a crop. The late Mr. 

 Pusey carried this process to its farthest extent by fermenting bone- 

 dust in a heap with damp ashes, mixed with which it heated and 

 crumbled and ultimately acquired the form of a fine powder. It is 

 evident that 1 cwt. of this powdered bone presented to the action of 

 the air and rain as great an available surface off which to dissolve and 

 carry away whatever food for plants the bone contains, as was pre- 

 sented by many cwU. of rough bones or even of crumbled, > 

 bone-dust. 



It was accordingly found as the result of this process, that 2 or 3 



