1S38] 



FARMKRS' REGISTER. 



615 



from its slight stale ofcohesioti is readily soluble in 

 water: liit or nil is always ((uiml in fiijlics, oiilior 

 under tiie pkiii or in some of the viscera; and tlieir 

 fibrous matter eonlains all the essential elements 

 of" veiretable substances. 



Amonijsl oily substances, blubber has been em- 

 ployed as manure. It is most useful when mixed 

 with clay, sand, or any common soil, so as to ex- 

 pose a large surfiice to the air, the oxygen of 

 which produces soluble matter from it. Lord 

 Somerville used blubber with great success at his 

 fiirm in Surrey. It was made into a heap with 

 soil, and retained its powers of fertilizing for seve- 

 ral successive years. 



The carbon and hydrogen abounding in oily 

 substances fully account lor their effects; and their 

 durability is easily explained from the gradual 

 manner in which they change by the action of air 

 and water. 



Bones are much used as a manure in the neigh- 

 borhood of London. After being broken and 

 boiled for grease, they are sold to the farmer. 

 The more divided they are, the more powerful are 

 their effects. The expense of grinding them in a 

 mill would probably be repaid by the increase of 

 their fertilizing powers; and in the state of pow- 

 der they might be used in the drill husbandry, and 

 delivered with the seed in the same manner as 

 rape cake. 



Bone dust and bone shavings, the reflise of the 

 turning manufacture, may be advantageously em- 

 ployed in the same way. 



The basis of bone is constituted by earthy salts, 

 principally phosphate of lime, with some carbonate 

 of lime and phosphate of magnesia ; the easily 

 decomposable substances in bone are liit, gelatine, 

 and cartilage, which seem of the same nature as 

 coagulated albumen. 



According to the analysis of Fourcroy and 

 V auquelin, ox bones are composed, 

 Of decomposable animal matter 



— phosphate of lime 



— carbonate of lime 



— phosphate of magnesia 



51 

 37-7 

 10 

 1-3 



100 



M. Merat Guillot has given the following es- 

 timate of the composition of the bones of different 

 animals : — 



Bone of Calf 



Horse 



Sheep 



Elk 



Hog 



Hare 



Pullet 



Pike 



Carp 



Horses' teeth 

 Ivory 



The remaining parts of the hundred must be 

 considered as decomposable animal matter. 



Horn is a still more powerfiji manure than 

 bone, as it contains a larger quantity of decon)po- 

 Bable animal matter. From 500 grains of ox 

 horn Mr. Hatchett obtained only 1-5 grains of 



earthy residuum, and not quite half of this was 

 phosphate of lime. The shavings or turniiiirs of 

 horn l()rm an excellent manure, though they are not 

 suflirienily abundant to be in common use. The 

 animal matter in them seems to be of the nature 

 of coajTulaled albumen, and it is slowly rendered 

 soluble by the action of water. Theearthy matter 

 in horn, and still more that in bones, prevents the 

 too rapiil decumposition of the animal matter, and 

 renders it very durable in its efflscts. 



//«/r, rooollen raga, and feathers, are all analo- 

 gous in composition, and principally consist of a 

 substance similar to albumen, united to gelatine. 

 This is shown by the ingenious researches of Mr. 

 Hatchett. The theory of their operation is simi- 

 lar to that of bone and horn shavings. 



The refuse of the different manufactures of skin 

 and leather form very useful manures; such as 

 the shavings of the currier, furriers' clippings, and 

 the oHiils of the tan-yard and of the glue-maker. 

 The gelatine contained in every kind of skin is in 

 a state fitted for its gradual solution or decomposi- 

 tion ; and when buried in the soil, it lasts for a 

 considerable lime, and constantly affords a supply of 

 nutritive matter to the plants in its neighborhood. 



Blood contains certain quantities of all the 

 principles found in other animal substances, and is 

 consequently a very good manure. It has been 

 already stated that it contains fibrine ; it likewise 

 contains albumen : the red particles in it, which 

 have been supposed by many foreign chemists to 

 be colored by iron in a particular state of combina- 

 tion with oxygen and acid matter, Mr. Brande 

 considers as formed of a peculiar animal substance, 

 containing very little iron. 



The scum taken from the boilers of the sugar 

 bakers, and which is used as manure, principally 

 I consists of bullock's blood, which has been em- 

 ployed for the purpose of separating the impuri- 

 ties of common brown sugar, by means of the 

 coagulation of its albuminous matter by the heat 

 of the boiler. 



The different species of corals, corallines, and 

 sponges, must be considered as substances of ani- 

 mal origin. From the analysis of Mr. Hatchett, 

 it appears that all these substances contain consi- 

 derable quantities of a matter analogous to coafu- 

 lated albumen ; the sponges affford likewise gela- 

 tine. 



According to Merat Guillot, white coral con- 

 tains equal parts of animal matter and carbonate 

 of lime ; red coral 46-5 of animal matter, and 

 53-5 of carbonate of lime ; articulated coralline 51 

 of animal matter, and 49 of carbonate of lime. 



These substances are, I believe, never used as 

 manure in this country, except incases when they 

 are accidentally mixed with sea-weed; but it is pro- 

 bable that the corallines might be advantajjeously 

 employed, as they are found in considerable quan- 

 tity on the rocks and bottoms of the rocky pools 

 in many parts of our coast, where the land gra- 

 dually declines towards the sea; and they might 

 be detached by hoes, and collected without much 

 trouble. 



Amongst excrementitious animal substances 

 used as manures, urine is the one upon which the 

 greatest number of chemical experiments have 

 been made, and the nature of which is best un- 

 derstood. 



The urine of the crow contains, according to the 

 experiments of Mr. Brande, 



