1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



tfil 



tain; that it ma_v liave beneficial effect is very pos- [ particularly in the Kouthern and south eastern 



sihie, but requires direct experiment to prove it, for 

 it is to be borne in mind that bones, as they are now 

 applied, are not entirely phospliate of" lime — no, 

 nor yet one-half of il, lor in every 100 parts ot 

 bone (here is 



Solid Gelatine, 

 Phospafe of Lime, 

 Ditto JMa<jnpsia, 

 Carbonate of Lime, 



100 



Giving little more than one-third of phosphate of 

 lime. Now, j|-om Ihe circumstance thai all de- 

 composing a/u'?/i«Z matter has a most determinate 

 effect on the accelerating of vegetation, I am 

 strontjly inclined to believe that it is the gelatine 

 that plays so very conspicuous a part in the bone 

 dust; this view is supported from the f;ict of the 

 length of time a dressinnr of bone dust lasts ; lor 

 bones that have been long buried in the earth have 

 been found after many years to still retain a por- 

 tion of the gelatine, at the same time hardly any 

 of the phosphate has disappeared; now, as vege- 

 tation is always affecied by an active principle, one 

 would be led to assume that the manure had been 

 derived from the gelatine which had disappeared 

 more than from the phosphate which had remain- 

 ed, it is, in my opinion, this property of slnwhj 

 parting witii iis ijelatme that renders bone dust ca- 

 pable of effect in(T the crop so long alter it has been 

 applied; Avhelher I am riijhtor not, direct experi- 

 ment can alone decide; if I am, then it is certain 

 that the dealers in bones deprive them of a great 

 deal of their nutriti^■e properties by first boilins 

 them, as they are accustomed to do, to obtain the 

 fat, and in some instances part of the gelatine. 



I cannot close this communication without ad- 

 verting to a letter in your paper of the 1st instant, 

 signed a "Surrey Farmer." A Surrey farmer he 

 may be, but I am strongly inclined to think he is 

 Mr. Lance himselfj from the tenor of his letter. If 

 he is acquainted with chemistry as he would lead 

 one to believe, he must know that "animalized 

 carbon" is pure nonsense, and the term can only 

 have been invented to beguile the innocent. 



That excremeniitious matter is hinrhly benefi- 

 cial when applied as manure, no one can deny; 

 there is none perhaps equal to it for the generality 

 of land; but to say that animalized carbon, pro- 

 vided it is composed as he sets forth, is the same 

 as phosphate of lime, is a most ffratuifous asser- 

 tion; for, in the ingredients he mainly depends upon 

 for constituting its identity with bone dust, there is 

 in urine only 294 in 1000 parts, and that only from 

 adults, as young persons do not give it off, and in 

 foBces there is scarcely a trace; neither is it any 

 answer to your correspondent; for, if I do not mis- 

 take his meaning, he wishes for a substitute that 

 can be made at home. I know nothing of Lance's 

 compost, never having seen any one who has tried 

 it; but this I know, that if its principal ingredients 

 are such as stated by the Surrey farmer — Lance 

 could not sell it at Is. 6d. a bushel, nor at any 

 thing like the price of bone dust. 



As to his observations respecting the sources 

 from whence phosphoric acid is procured by na- 

 ture, I have, by anticipation, in part answered 

 them, and therefore will only briefly ask him to 

 point out where phosphoric acid exists in the earth; 



parts of England. As to the other sources, I will 

 mention the proportions of the principal of them, 

 and then leave your readers to judge whether it is 

 possible to obtain .38 per cent from them of phos- 

 |)hate of lime. Wheat can contain only a slight 

 (juantily, f(:ir there is li'om 94 to 97 of gluien and 

 starch; milk contains about 0-30 in 1000 parts, so 

 that an infant drinking 1000 pounds of milk takes 

 in the 30th part of a pound, or about half an ounce 

 and even that it never gives any off again; and 

 vtjiX shells contain one per cent., and thai a com- 

 bination of phosphate of lime and magnesia; if 

 therefore, it is on such data as the above, that the 

 '•animalized carbon," is offered as a subs'itute 

 for bone dust, I distinctly assert that it will disap- 

 point the users of it; nevertheless it may be a very 

 good manure in other respects. Should any fur- 

 ther explanation, as to phosphate of lime, be deem- 

 ed requisite, 1 shall be happy to afiord it to your 

 correspondent. 



Yours, T. R. F. 



London, 13th 3Jay, 1837. 



TKE IDENTITY OF THE FRENCH MANURE 

 CAt.LED "AKI5IALIZED CHARCOAL" WITH 

 A PIIKI'ARATIGN OF HUMAN EXCREMENTS. 



It was not a Httle singular, that while the article on 

 the filth of towns, and means of converting it to ma- 

 nure, in the last No., was passing through the press, 

 that we received from D. K. Minor, esq., editor of the 

 New York Farmer, a letter of inquiry on the same 

 general subject, and stating his design of saving, p.nd 

 converting to manure, the immense amount of fcEcal 

 matters which are produced, and serve merely as an 

 enormous nuisance, in the city of New York. Mr. 

 Minor, in conjunction with a French gentleman who 

 is acquainted with Payen's method of preserving and 

 utilizing these substances, is preparing for the execu- 

 tion of his plan; and every friend to the agricultural 

 and general interests of the country must heartily wish 

 success to his pubhc -spirited and most important un- 

 dertaking. 



In answer to Mr. Minor's inquiries, we forthwith 

 sent the sheets of the publication then in progress, ex- 

 pressing our views on the subject — large extracts of 

 which he has republished in the ^&vi York Farmer, as 

 well as other articles on the preparation of "pondreite" 

 and '•urate,'" which have been copied in the preceding 

 pages. It is hoped that attention is now strongly at- 

 tracted to this heretofore neglected subject, and, what- 

 ever may be the methods and means adopted for at- 

 taining the end that the main objects of benefiting health, 

 and aiding fertilization, will be successfully and profit- 

 ably reached. 



In addition to all that we furnished on this subject, 

 in the last No., and communicated to Mr. Minor, and 

 to the information which he has derived from other 

 sources, we have republished on the last page, some 

 articles from the last London Farmers' Magazine, 

 (of June, 1S37,) which speak of tbe qualities and va- 

 lue of Lance's "animalized charcoal;" and it appears 

 from another much longer article, (of no worth in other 

 respects,) from the same eulogist of the manure, that 

 the compound is similar to the "animalized charcoal," 

 manufactured at Copenhagen, and in France — and that 



