670 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



Ifmy proposition should be acccpied, each per- 

 son to pay the proportion of the ex[)ense ol the 

 experiment. 



ir the above proposition is not accepted, I will 

 feed a Woburn barrow, sow, or \;\s, against any 

 other hog in the state that has no Woburn blood 

 in ir. 



No proposition th&t has any tiling like a bet or 

 wager attached to it vvill be accepted bj' me, but 1 

 wish to liied to ascertain what the diflereut kind of 

 hotrs will do. S. .1). Makti.x. 



BONES AS MANURE, 



From the Quarterly Journal of Agricullure. 



Mr. Watson procured bone manure for two 

 acres of land, the greatest quantity being 25 bush- 

 els per Scotcii acre. " This," says he, " I applied 

 the following turnip sowing season on a sharp 

 black land, and on two adjoining acres of the 

 same field, I applied 25 cart-loads of well-made 

 larm-yard dung per acre: the season of sowing 

 was rather wet, and not very favorable to the 

 growth of turnips. Those with bones came above 

 ground on the third day, very dark-colored and 

 broad in the lea!, and by the tenth day they were 

 all in the rough blade ; at this time 1 examined 

 the stale of tlie bone manure, and found it in one 

 mass of maagots ; but two days afier, they were 

 all dead, and the weather being now dry and 

 warm, the most rapid vegetation I ever remarked 

 took place, so that by the fifteenth day li-om the 

 time of sowing, the turnips were fully strong for 

 being thinned. The plants where the liirni-yard 

 dung was applied, did not come up until the filih 

 day, and the turnips were twenty days sown be- 

 fore they were fit lor thinning, and by this lime 

 the bone turnips were meeting on the top of the 

 drill, and they continued to maintain the advan- 

 tage of their first start, until the month of Septem- 

 ber, which set in rather dry. At tliis time I anti- 

 cipated that the bones would be exhausted, and 

 the crop stop growing, but such was not the case, 

 for while the dunged crop began to fade and stop 

 growing, the bone turnips kept growing vigor- 

 ously. About the middle of October, when I 

 considered both crops at maturity,.! had a compa- 

 rative trial of their weight carefully made, the re- 

 sult of which was, six tons per acre in favor of the 

 bones, they being twenly-eiuht tons per acre of 

 Aberdeen yellow turnip ; the farm-yard dung, only 

 twenty-tuo tons per acre. 



From this experiment, I was induced to extend 

 the use of bones on my farms, growing aiuiuaily 

 liom 70 to 100 acres of turnips, with this manure, 

 n-kich (^ivas me a great command of dung for my 

 other crops. I have erected machinery lor grind- 

 ing bones, my neighbors having now all become 

 convinced of their ereat superiorit^y, and the first 

 season I sold to the amount of £1500 sterling 

 v/orth, and ihe last season not less than £ 10,000 

 pterling has been paid for bones used in the district 

 of Slrathinore, a great part coming I'rom Hull. 



The quantity of bone manure may be varied 

 (lom 15 to 25 bushels of dust per acre, according 

 to the slate of the land, the driest soils being the 

 most benefited by their u-e ; some difticulty was 

 at first experienced in depositing the crushed bones, 

 so that ilie plants might reap all the benefit; but 



this is now obviated by the application of a hop- 

 per and trough to the turnip-drill, which conducts 

 the manure and seed into the drill at the same 

 time, and with the same expedition as sowing the 

 seeil by the old machine. 



Doubts had been raised whether the succeeding 

 crop of oats or barley is in any degree benefited by 

 the small quantity of bones used in growing a 

 crop of turifips. 1 can confidently state that, on 

 my farms, both the quantity and quality of my 

 barley particularly have been improved, and the 

 grass from seeds sown with it is a ibrtnight earlier 

 in its growth than afier other manures. 



In the crop of 1825, the bone manure was a 

 great blessing to the breeders and feeders cf cattle 

 in this district, and, in some instances, saved 

 the industrious tenant li-om ruin ; for the severe 

 drought, even of that season, did not prevent a 

 crop of turnips with bones, while all other ma- 

 nures failed, and it was thus the means of bring- 

 ini>: through that disastrous winter, herds of cattle 

 which must otherwise have perished for want of 

 fodder. 



IMPORTANCE OF MANURE. KLIVOGG THE 

 SWISS FARMER. 



From the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Sir — A friend has put into my hands a book, 

 recording the history of a remarkable individual, 

 a Swiss fiirmer, by the name of Kliyogg: it was 

 published forty years ago, but it contains instruc- 

 tion and information, with food for reflection, 

 which will be ever new and oi' the highest inter- 

 est to every practical agriculturist ; and I there- 

 fore feel a great desire lo copy a part of the first 

 chapter, " on ihe value and importance of ma- 

 nure," which will, I conceive, be read by a very 

 great portion of your subscribers to much advan- 

 tage, and be the means of leading us all to reflect, 

 how little of the value and importance of that 

 chief agent in agriculture is yet known or cared 

 for. 



Kliyogg^s fiimily consisted of a wife, a broilier 

 and his wile, and iheir two families of eleven child- 

 ren, all, except one daughter, mere infants. His 

 ftirm, of eighty-four acres of cleared land, was so 

 poor that it would support but three oxen, four 

 cows, one horse, and two hogs — in all, but ten 

 head of live-stock — but, from this wretclied little 

 in)povcrished spot, he contrived to procure the 

 rneaiis of subsistence for such a numerous colony, 

 and eventually riches — but here commences the 

 chapter '• on the importance of manure." 



" It is not fiom grazing, therefore, that Kliyogg 

 expects advantage, but from an article of more 

 advauia^e, and more to be depended upon, the in- 

 crease of dung for manure, tie finds his horse 

 more expensive than serviceable, and determines 

 to sell him and buy oxen with the money, as he 

 computes that two oxen may be maintained for 

 one horse. The advantages which he derives 

 liom his cattle are, milk, butter, work and ma- 

 nure ; the last article, manure, he considers as the 

 basis of the improvement of the soil ; consequent- 

 ly, he has applied the whole force of his caie and 

 industry towards its accumulation, and has so 

 well succeeded, that from his small number of cat- 

 tle, he collects yearly about a hundred loads, 



