63 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 2 



"The committee enter into the Ibllowmg details 

 of the process: 



"By means of a cutting machine, the co.^t of 

 which is about 600 Irancs (£15), and which, af- 

 ter a careful examination, appeared well adapted 

 for the purpose, three men and a horse can pre- 

 pare 180 quintals, or 7,200 kilograms (about seven 

 tons English) of manure per day, and the niacliine 

 is easily erected. Ten quintals of straw produced 

 40 qumtals of manure; tliis is effected either by the 

 addition of the lye, or by the fermentation dilating 

 ihe material otierated on. 



"The Jauli'ret process admits of greater econo- 

 my as to labor; for the wooden cistern, and the in- 

 gredients of which the lye is made, may be car- 

 ried to the field which is to be manured, and the 

 compost prepared on the spot;~and thus the car- 

 riage of the vegetable matter from the field to the 

 yard, and back again from the yard to the field, is 

 paved; the escape also of carbonic acid gas, one ol 

 the most valuable component parts of manure, 

 which takes place during removal, is thus prevent- 

 ed. The inventor asserts, moreover, that he can 

 vary the degree of fermentation, to suit the defijcts 

 or qualities of different soils; and as he can raise 

 the heat caused by the fermentation as high as 60 

 Reaumer (167 deg. Faronheit) his process has the 

 additional advantage of destroying tite germ of all 

 noxious herbs, which might foul the, land. 



"That m considering this process, the commit- 

 tee were struck with the advantage that might 

 arise from establishing manulactories, not only on 

 large farms, but near towns and villages, to which 

 every cultivator ntight briiiu his refuse vegetable 

 matter to be converted into manure. The cutting 

 machine might be worked either by horse, v/ater, 

 or steam power. 



"The Jautfret process will be advanta^reous not 

 only to large proprietors, (by whom an expense of 

 600 francs (£15) will scarcely be felt,) but it will 

 be more important and useful to small farmers, 

 who can cut their weeds by hand, and prepare a 

 quantity as perfect as any made by the machine.* 

 As to the conversion of earth into manure, any 

 one can make it without the help of the niachine 

 invented by JVl. Jaufiret, and the manure made 

 from earth by this new process, is not less valua- 

 ble than the compost. Thus, those who have no 

 cattle to l(5ed may employ all their Ibdder lor ma- 

 nure; others can render available weeds, l)riers, 

 dofijstooth, thistles, &c.; and those who have nei- 

 ther straw, fodder, nor weeds, can convert earth 

 into manure; so that no discovery was ever more 

 capable of easy or general application. The Jaut- 

 fret |)rocess tends to supply agriculturists with new 

 and powerful means ol'increasinir their wealth, es- 

 pecially in tiie case of poor-land farmers, who 

 usually find it difficult to obtain a sufficiency of 

 manure." 



* Pylons. Janffrct states, the machine iiecccsary for 

 a small farmer is only a barrel and a pail, and v.hich 

 can be carried with ease fVom one part of tlie farm to 

 the other. It is set to work in tlie open air, wherever 

 materials happ(^n to be; thus tiie fields tl)at are so dis- 

 tant as to be seldom manured, may by this manure be 

 Tendered hip;hly productive. The mixture is made 

 without fire, and every thing concurs to render it eco- 

 nomical. 



From the British Farmer's Magazine. 



MODE AND EFFECT OF EMPLOYING BONE MA- 

 NURE. 



By C. W. Johnson. Esq. 



I proceed to notice the effects and modes of ap- 

 [)lying bones as a fertilizer, either whole, broken, 

 or in the state of powder. 



The Doncaster Agricultural Association long 

 since paid considerable attention to the use ol" 

 bones as a manure, and they have made a very 

 valuable report, to which I have before alluded, 

 of the result of their enquiries, in which they 

 say :— 



" The returns received by the association, sa- 

 tisfactorily establish the great value of bones as a 

 manure; our correspondents, with only two excep- 

 tions, all concur in stating them to be a highly 

 valuable manure, and on light soils, superior to 

 farm-yard dung, and other manures. 



" In copying the lanii'uage of one of them, in 

 reference to dry sandy soils, we express the opin- 

 ions repeated in a far ijcreater number. 



" I consider bone tillage one of the most useful 

 manures, which has ever been discovered for the 

 farmer's benefit. The lightness of carriage — its 

 suitableness (or the drill, and its general fijrtilizing 

 properties, render it peculialy valuable in those 

 parts where distance from towns renders it impos- 

 sible to procure manures of a lieavier and more 

 bulky descri[)tion." For, as stated by another 

 farmer, "the carting of six, eight, or ten loads per 

 acre, is no trifling expense. The use of bones 

 diminishes labor at a season of the year when 

 time is of the first importance; for one wagon 

 load, or one hundred and twenty bushels of small 

 drill bone dust, is equal to forty or fifty loads of 

 fold manure. Upon very thin sandy land, its value 

 is not to be estimated; it not only is Ibund to benefit 

 the particular crop to which it is applied, but ex- 

 tends through tfie whole course of crops." 



The report adds, that l)ones have been found 

 highly lieneficial on the limestone soils near Don- 

 caster ; on peaty soils, and on light loams ; but 

 on heavy soils, arid on clay, they produce no 

 benefit. 



The mode of applyintr them is, either sowing 

 by broad-cast, or by the drill, either by themselves, 

 or previously mixed with earth and fermented. 

 Bones which have been thus fermented, are de- 

 cidedly superior to those which have not done so. 



The quantity applied per acre is about twenty- 

 five busliels of bone dust, and forty bushels of 

 large broken bones. The dust is best for immedi- 

 ate profit; the broken half-inch bones for more con- 

 tinued improvement. Mr. Birk, says, "if I were 

 to till Icjr early profit, 1 would use bones powdered 

 as small as saw-dust. If I wished to keep my 

 land in good heart, I would use principally half- 

 inch bones; and in breaking tliese I should prefer 

 some reniainino; considerably larger." 



The reason lor this is very obvious ; the larger 

 the pieces of bone, the more gradually will agiven 

 bulk dissolve in the soil. 



Such is the result of the application of bones in 

 Yorkshire. In Middlesex, the practice is scarce- 

 ly different, as will be seen by the answers to 

 some questions I received fi-om a very intelligent 

 correspondent, Mr. John Rayner, of Oxbridge, in 

 November, 1S33. 



