MANURES. 45 



portion of vegetable matter. From two pecks on sandy, to 

 fifteen bushels on clay soil, have been applied per acre ; but 

 from two to four bushels is the usual quantity. 



The crops on which it produces the greatest effect, are the 

 red and white clover, lupern and sainfoin, and the legumi- 

 nous plants, peas, beans, &c. On natural meadows and the 

 cereal grains, it has little perceptible influence. 



Gypsum should be sown broadcast on meadows, as soon as 

 the first leaves have expanded in the spring. It requires 460 

 times its weight of water to dissolve it, which shows the ne- 

 cessity of applying it while the early rains are abundant. For 

 corn, potatoes and turneps, it is usually put in with the seed, 

 or sprinkled upon the leaves after the first hoeing ; and it is 

 advantageously applied in both ways, during the same season. 



From its great effect on the clovers, increasing them 

 sometimes to twice, and in rare instances, to thrice the quan- 

 tity produced without it, it is manifest that gypsum is the 

 most profitable manure which can be used, as it can be gen- 

 erally procured by farmers at from $3 to $6 per ton. Yet 

 it should be fully understood, that like lime, salt, or other 

 mineral manures, it furnishes a part only of the food of 

 plants ; and like them too, the addition of vegetable and ani- 

 mal manures, is indispensable to secure permanent fertility. 



Some sections of this and other countries, particularly in 

 Great Britain, apparently derive no benefit from the applica- 

 tion of gypsum. This failure has been variously ascribed, 

 to there being already enough in the soil, or to the presence 

 of a marine atmosphere. Its great usefulness, however, on 

 many parts of our Atlantic coast, would seem to require 

 some other explanation than the last, as the cause of its in- 

 efficiency. Experiments alone can determine the circum- 

 stances which will justify its application, and to this test 

 should not only this, but all other practices of the farmer be 

 rigidly subjected. 



BONES. 



About 33 per cent, of fresh bone, consists of animal mat- 

 ter, (oil, gelatine, &c.,) from 53 to 56 per cent, of phosphate 

 of lime, and the remainder is principally carbonate of lime, 

 soda and magnesia. There is no part of the bone that is 

 not useful to vegetation ; and it is especially so to the various 

 kinds of grain, potatoes, turneps, the clovers, peas and 

 beans. The bones should be crushed or ground, and then 

 drilled in with the seed, or scattered broadcast, at the rate of 



