122 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



when moving within the circle of those who should 

 be safe advisers and trusty friends, to whom can he 

 flee for counsel and protection ? " 



It is not alone in 1'egard to the nature and meth- 

 ods of making and applying fertilizers that farmers 

 are led into error ; but perhaps there is no subject 

 upon which it is more important that correct knowl- 

 edge should be disseminated than this. Some of 

 the best known and most widely circulated of our 

 agricultural journals have advised farmers to collect 

 large quantities of bones, reduce them to fragments 

 by pounding, and then dissolve them by pouring 

 on sulphuric acid ; and the same wise advice has 

 been given at the meetings of Farmers' Clubs. 

 Now, it would seem that every intelligent person 

 ought to know that raw, unground bones cannot be 

 dissolved in sulphuric acid. Whoever recommends 

 this course, purposely misleads, or else is in igno- 

 rance from never having tried the experiment. 

 Fragments no larger than a raisin may remain in 

 strong or dilute acid for months, and not be per- 

 ceptibly acted upon. They are attacked only upon 

 the surface when in contact with oil of vitriol, and 

 a film of insoluble sulphate of lime is formed which 

 effectually arrests further action. In order to dis- 

 solve bones and fit them for plant nutriment, they 

 must first be ground to fine powder, and the finer 

 the 'better, as the acid can then cut through the 



