703 



maintain the conditions of complete fertility, it" \ve use them in a 

 judicious manner. They supply large quantities ot" the mine-nil and 

 organic matter necessary for the crop, and that in small hulk. They 

 act as direct carriers of food to the- plant. They act both chemi- 

 cally and mechanically on the soil, by stimulating and aiding the 

 disintegration of the inert mineral matter, and rendering active the 

 process of nitrification, they enable the soil t > attract a larger amount 

 of moisture as well as act in the capacity of fixers of plant food in 

 the soil. It has been said that artificial manures are exhausted in a 

 year, a :d this is used as an argument against them, but it has been 

 proved that with the exception, perhaps, of nitrate of soda, which is 

 liable to be washed out of the soil, they are not exhausted in 

 the first year ; even if we were to acknowledge that they 

 are exhausted so speedily, it is always more econ mical to 

 manure the crop than the ground. Some scientists harp on the 

 point that we are still in the dark as to the ac.ion of many of these 

 manures in the soil, ('.ranted this is so, we have still sufficient light 

 to guide us to an intelligent and profitable use of them. leather 

 than sit down in our partial darkness doing nothing it is better we 

 should march on with the light we have, hoping that scL nee will 

 still further enlighten us some day on the dark points. 



Of course no single simple manure would be of any good to a. 

 crop unless the other elements required were in sufficient quantities 

 in the soil. The farmer ag tin may have taken it for granted that 

 the merchant has supplied him with the manure he ordered. 

 Unfortunately in too many cases these manures are not what they 

 are intended to represent. Further, the soil may not be suited to 

 the crops, and climatic influences may have something to clo with 

 failures as well as the manures. 



To apply them with economic success the farmer must know 

 the requirements of his soil and the action of the individual 

 manures upon them. 



The first of these manures that we will consider will be the 

 bones in their various states. 



RAW BOXKS. 



Bones in a coarse state of \ and \ inch were at one time used 

 largely for pasture land. To a great extent this use of coarse bones 

 has been abandoned and the more economical bone dust or bone 

 meal has taken its place. Bones are a rich phosphatic manure con- 

 taining nitrogen equal to 4 to 5 per cent, of ammonia and 45 to 54 

 per cent, of phosphate of lime. The Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England's standard requires a guarantee of nitrogen equal to 4 per 

 cent, of ammonia and 45 to 48 per cent, of phosphatic lime. The 

 following are analyses of bones : 



