SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



283 



this takinj; place vvnth vitriolized bones; and 

 I have found, though seeds will not vegetate 

 if entirely surrounded with them, they readily 

 \v\\l if tlio manure is mixed with twice its 

 weight ol' mould. 



The last season has not been a favorable 

 one for displaying the peculiar advantages of 

 vitriolized bones ; or, rather, it has Iieen from 

 its wetness so favorable for common bones, 

 and every other description of manure, that 

 an indili'orent field of turnii>s has been the ex- 

 ception and not the rule. It is in a dry sea- 

 son, when the Hy is particularly rife and act- 

 ive, when crop after crop is desti'oyed by this 

 entomological pest, that the advantage of in- 

 surmg a vigorous growth to young plants is 

 properly appreciated. Among all the specif- 

 ics or imtidotes lijr the fly, tliere is none, I be- 

 lieve, equal to the employment of vitriolized 

 bones. Hitherto I have not met with or heard 

 of a single insttuice in which it has failed to 

 force the plants out of the way of the fly. It 

 is ill a dry season, too, that the adxantages of 

 early and vigorous growth are shov^^l, when 

 the plant may languish for weeks for want of 

 rain with ordinaiy manures, and thus lose 

 time that never afterward can be compensated 

 for. 



In a garden experiment tried on a small 

 w^ale, to show the effect of different prepara- 

 tions in forcing the young plant out of ground, 

 I found the following results : 



1. Vitriolized bone applied in solution 

 above the seed caused the plant to appear on 

 the fourth day. 



2. The same applied below the seed 

 brought up the plant on the fifth day. 



3. Vitriolized bones as compost brought up 

 the plant on the sixth day, both when applied 

 above and below the seed. 



4. Sulphuric acid and water below the seed 

 caused the turnip to make its appearance on 

 the sixth day. 



5. Bone-dust below the seed brought up 

 the plant on the seventh day, the same time 

 as it appeared where no manure was em- 

 ployed. 



In the above instances, with the exception 

 of the fourth, the exi)ense of the manure was 

 the same in each case. 



General Conclusions. 

 From the facts and reasons which we have 

 detjiiled and urged in our pnH-eding Essay, as 

 well as from infonnation supplied by previous 

 experimenters, we may deduce the following 

 conclusions : 



1. That superjihosphate of lime is the e.s- 

 Bential manure tor turnips, and particularly 

 lor Swedes. That with it alone a good crop 

 can be raised ; but without it the turnip will 

 not thrive, however rich the manure may oth- 

 erwise be. 



2. In preparing the mixture, the bones 

 should be in as fine a state as possible. 



3. That sulphuric acid, from its greater 

 strength and cheaj)ness, is preferable to muri- 

 atic acid. 



(571) 



4. That water, in the proportion of one-half 

 the weight of the acid, should be first sprin- 

 kled over the bones. 



5. Tiie proportion of sulphuric most eco- 

 nomical to emj)loy should not be le.ss than 

 one-third, nor more than one-half the v^'cight 

 of the bones, and that proi)ably the medium 

 between these two quantities is most advant- 

 ageous. 



(). That the mixture can be applied either 

 diluted with a considerable quantity of water 

 by the aid of a watei-cart, or with ashes by 

 means of an ordinary drill. That though the 

 former may be more spi^edy in its effects, the 

 hitter can be more conveniently applied, and 

 has the advantage of admitting the addition 

 of a large quantity of ashes. 



7. That viti-iolized bones may be used 

 either alone or with other manm-es, and that 

 whqja the latter are at h;nid, it is more advant- 

 iigeous to use the fonnerin combination witli 

 them. For histance, if there are 30 acres to 

 I)e prepared, and only sufficient dung to dress 

 l.'j acres, it is better to give a half-dressing of 

 dung over the whole of the turnip break, and 

 make up the deficiency by moans of sulphated 

 bones. Thus the plant will be forced in its 

 early, and supported in its later growth. For 

 the same reason, vitriolized bones may be ad- 

 vantageously combined with guano. 



8. That vitriolized bones are equally ad- 

 vantageous to the second year's crop, when 

 the turnips are either wholly or partially fed 

 off' vvitli sheep. 



f). That, while the economy of tliis manure 

 is tlms proved by practice, it can be as read- 

 ily explained by theorj-, e. g. : The tops of 

 Swedes are known to possess double the phos- 

 phoric aciil contained in the bulbs. Thus the 

 supeqiliosphate of lime in the manure causes 

 the rapid devclo[)ment of the leaves — one of 

 its peculiar properties. The leaves being tliiLs 

 early and largely developed, are enabled to 

 extract a considerable portion of nourishment 

 from the atmosphere — much more, indeed, 

 than where the leaves are small and back- 

 ward. The difference between the amount 

 of food derived from the atmosphere by a for- 

 ward and flourishing crop, and that obtained 

 by a backward and dwarfish crop, is so much 

 al)solute gain to the farmer, or rather to the 

 land. It co.sts nothing on the one hand, but 

 fields considerably to the land if the crop is 

 led otr on the other. A jnanure that would 

 thus force on the turniji in the early stages of 

 its growth, was long fi'lt to be a desideratum 

 by agriculturists. This want hjis now been 

 supplied ; and even if this were the only rec- 

 ommendation sulphated bones possessed, its 

 discovery and introduction would still be a 

 boon. 



Lastly. The value of vitriolized bone may 

 now be considered to be fully and fairly es- 

 tablished. Its claims rest not on the asser- 

 tions of a few experimenters. It has been 

 tried during the la.st season by hundreds with 

 success, and in the next it will be tried by 

 thousaads. It affords, in fact, a triumphant 



