596 



F A 



R E G I 



[No. 10 



a full and exact description thereof. My improve- j 

 merit does not consist in the employment of any ; 

 newly invented machinery, but in the using of' 

 such power from falls or currents of water, or 

 other natural or artificial sources of power as has [ 

 heretofore been allowed to run to waste, and em- 

 ploying the same for the purpose of condensing j 

 air into suitable receivers; the elastic force of which 

 condensed air is to be subsequently applied to the 

 purposes herein designated. In numerous situa- 

 tions in the courses of canals and rail roads, and 

 of other roads and water courses, there are falls 

 of water, waste weirs, sluices, dams, etc.; the 

 power from which, if economized, would be am- 

 ple for the attainment of all the ends proposed by 

 me. I bring this into use by taking the water 

 power from wheels or other machinery already 

 erected, or by erecting others where they do not 

 already exist, using any of the known construc- 

 tions of such wheels, or other machinery as may 

 be best adapted to the particular situations in 

 which they are to be employed. These I connect 

 in the ordinary way with the piston or pistons of 

 condensing engines, constructed for the condens- 

 ing of air, and force air thereby into suitable re- 

 ceptacles, or reservoirs, furnished with the requi- 

 site tubes, valves, or other appendages, by which 

 they are adapted to the containing of air thus 

 condensed, and to the supplying of the same in 

 measured quantities, so as to operate upon a pis- 

 ton for driving and propelling machinery as hii>-h 

 as steam is now made to operate. The means of 

 doing this does not require any description, being 

 perfectly familiar to competent engineers. The 

 air is to be condensed into one large stationary re- 

 servoir, and by means of a connecting tube and 

 stop-cock, transferred therefrom into other reser- 

 voirs connected with the vehicle to be propelled. 

 What I claim as my improvement in the art of 

 propelling cars, boats, or other vehicles for trans- 

 portation, is the employment of the waste power 

 of water, wind, or other natural or artificial sources 

 of power, to the condensation of air in the man- 

 ner and for the purposes herein before set forth." 



From Sinclair's Code of Agriculture. 



ON BONES AS A MANURE, AND ON THE USE 

 OF SEA-SHELLS, SHELL-MARL AM CORAL, 

 FOR THE SAME UENFFICIAL PURPOSES. 



Introduction. 



The use of bones as a manure, is perhaps the 

 most important discovery, connected with the cul- 

 tivation of the soil, that has been made in the 

 course of a great number of years. By means of 

 that discovery, and the improvements therewith 

 connected, an end is put to every difficulty in pro- 

 ducing at home, subsistence for the people of this 

 country. We may thus be rendered independent 

 of foreign produce; and unless our population 

 were greatly to increase, we should be hardly able 

 to consume, without the aid of exportation, the 

 great quantities of corn that can be raised, under 

 this improved system of production. If. has be- 

 come proverbial indeed, u that one ton of German 

 bone-dust, saves the importation of ten tons of Ger- 

 man corn,'''' and that, agriculture is thus rendered 

 in a considerable degree practicable, without, cat- 

 tle breeding, grazing, &c. Were the advantages 

 of the discovery restricted to the use of bones 



alone,* as they might possibly be exhausted, cr 

 raised in price, it would be less important; but tot*. 

 tunately the shells of oysters, and other fish, are 

 found to be equally effectual. Shell-marl also, 

 which abounds in many parts of the kingdom, 

 may be applied to similar purposes; and coral, 

 the banks of which are abundant even on our 

 own coasts, is found to be equally useful. In 

 short, it is impossible to foresee, what may be the 

 ultimate results of this new source of improve- 

 ment, tor by a small quantity of pounded bones or 

 shells, great crops of turnips can be raised; and 

 with the manure which these turnips produce, 

 abundant crops of corn may be obtained, even on 

 the poorest soils, with the aid of judicious rota- 

 tions. 



1. Origin of the discovery. — The important 

 discovery, that bones were an excellent manure, 

 was made about the year 1766, by Anthony St. 

 Leger, Esq. a gentleman in Yorkshire, who had 

 employed himself, for a great number of years, 

 in a long course of speculative and practical agri- 

 culture, and more especially in making experi- 

 ments with almost every species of manure. f Dr. 

 Darwin mentions it in his celebrated work on ag- 

 riculture, "The Phytologia.^X It is likewise 

 briefly noticed in Sir Humphry Davy's lecturcs.§ 

 But it was not until the year 1828, that it attracted 

 much public attention, when, by the exertions of 

 an active and public-spirited body, (the Doncaster 

 Agricultural Association,) much useful informa- 

 tion, regarding the advantages of this great disco- 

 very, was collected and published. || 



2. Chemical analysis of bones. — The composi- 

 tion of bones, according to Berzelius, is as fol- 

 lows: 



3. Manner in xvhich the manure operates. — It 

 is difficult to comprehend, how so small a quanti- 

 ty of manure, as that employed when bones are 

 made use of, should produce such astonishing ef- 

 fects. But the enigma has been thus explained. 

 Though the plants receive but a small portion of 

 benefiT from the bone manure itself, yet by means 

 of that manure, strong young plants are produced, 



* The importation of bones ought to be encouraged 

 by a public bounty, and some allowance given to the 

 captains of vessels, who bring bones as ballast in their 

 ships. 



f The first account of this manure, was published in 

 Dr. Hunter's Gcorgical Essays, vol. ii. p. 93. 



\ See Sect. 10. 5. 5. 



§ Page 252. 



|| The association appointed a committee, to make 

 inquiries regarding the use and advantages of bones 

 as a manure; and the Report of the Committee of that 

 respectable Association, (which contains much valua- 

 ble information on the subject,) was pu lished by 

 Ridgway, London, in 1829. 



