384 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



frame-work of its body, its bones ; as it will be remembered, 

 that these consist, for the greater part, of phosphoric acid, in 

 combination with lime. 



Phosphoric acid being thus, in the grain crops, chiefly con- 

 centrated in the seed, it is plain, that any single crop does not 

 carry away a very large quantity of it per acre. Suppose forty 

 bushels of wheat upon an acre. These forty bushels would 

 contain about fifty pounds of ash ; of this ash, from twenty- 

 five to thirty pounds would be phosphoric acid. A single 

 bushel of ground bones, then, would supply this quantity. We 

 thus see how a very small quantity of these mineral manures 

 may be amply sufficient for the wants of a large crop. The 

 same reasoning applies to plaster, a bushel or two of which, as 

 is well known, often produces such marked effect ; that small 

 quantity is, in reality, far more than enough for the wants of 

 the crop. 



Now, this explanation may seem unintelligible to many of 

 my hearers ; it may be true, they think, " but we don't under- 

 stand it ; what do these words mean, — phosphates, phosphoric 

 acid, carbonates, gelatine, organic matter, and so on ? We nev- 

 er saw such things, and we would rather let some one else 

 meddle with them first ; there may be something in it, but we 

 don't believe that it is best to trouble ourselves in the matter." 

 This conclusion is the very one that I wish them to avoid. I 

 wish them to trouble themselves about it, and to do so until 

 they see whether what I have asserted be true or not. 



I do believe, that on many of our New England soils, worn 

 down by hard cropping, there is no one manure more valuable, 

 — on some soils, none so valuable, — as bones. They are now 

 seldom applied whole. In England, they have several grada- 

 tions of fineness, as inch bones, half inch, and dust. When 

 whole bones were employed, they were applied as high as sev- 

 enty, eighty, and ninety bushels per acre ; at present, ten bush- 

 els of dust are found to produce a far greater effect. So exten- 

 sive is the demand for them in Great Britain, that they are 

 imported from all parts of the world. Many go from this coun- 

 try. Near Middletown, on the Connecticut River, there are 

 now one or two mills, where bones are ground. The farmers 



