1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 27 



proprietor of a comb and button factory had caused to be 

 dumped in a swamp as rubbish ; the effect was very gratify- 

 ing, and from that time the use of bone dates. 



It soon became known that crushed bones were superior to 

 whole ones, and in 1814 a bone mill was constructed to 

 crush and prepare this new manure. The novelty of the use 

 of bone manure is mentioned in the writings of Arthur Young, 

 who, on returning from a tour of Northern England and Scot- 

 land in 1770, said; "Bones are a very odd manure, but 

 they find them of great benefit to their clay lands and they 

 will last twenty years good." It was asked, after a time. 



Why do bones act as a fertilizer? 



First Theory. — Bones were known to be made up of two 

 parts : one that would burn, called the " animal matter ;" the 

 other, incombustible, called " mineral matter." It was known 

 that animal manures from farm-yards caused crops to yield 

 well, and so it was natural to attribute the beneficent action 

 of bones to the animal matter they contained. One hundred 

 pounds of bone will contain not far from thirty pounds of 

 " animal matter" and seventy of " mineral matter "or ash. 

 The thirty pounds received the credit for the effects that 

 were so clearly due to the application of bone. This theory 

 was all right until it was proven to be wrong. Some Eng- 

 lishman, with true Yankee inquisitiveness, burned the ani- 

 mal matter out of a lot of bones, and used the ash ; the 

 result was even more satisfactory than with the whole 

 bone. A new explanation was not only in order, but 

 necessary. 



The following represents an analysis of bone : — 



Now, if we remove the thirty pounds of animal matter, the 

 ash must cause the effect that is known to be produced ; the 

 lime, in the amount commonly used per acre, could not ac- 



