1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FAIl]\IER. 



83 



rial gallons) of boiling water into each, boiler. 

 It boils away at a great rate for some time, and 

 in a day or two we empty the boilers into two 

 cart loads of light mould, and turn the mixture 

 over. At this stage the bones are only partial- 

 ly dissolved, but they heat and decompose in the 

 heap after being turned over three or four times ; 

 and in the course of seven or eight weeks the 

 compost becomes dry and breaks down with a 

 shovel." 



Doubtless Prof. Norton saw many operations 

 of this kind while a chemical^ student with Prof. 

 Johnston. 



That the grinding of bones promotes the ready 

 action of sulphuric acid in abstracting lime from 

 phosphoric acid, no one doubts; but the strong- 

 er affinity of sulphuric acid for lime than phos- 

 phoric acid has, is dependent in no degree on the 

 crushing of bones. The oil of vitriol, used by 

 Prof. Gilham, may have been a weak and a poor 

 article. The writer has often seen the common 

 sulphuric acid of the shops behave precisely as is 

 described by him under similar circumstances. 

 He appears to have omitted the use of boiling 

 water, as recommended by Prof. J. F. W. Johns- 

 ton, an excellent practical chemist. His recipe 

 is, to 100 pounds of bones, add an equal weight 

 of boiling water, and immediately thereafter, 100 

 pounds of strong acid. The high heat evolved 

 from the union of the acid and hot water, so ex- 

 pands the fatty matter that surrounds the parti- 

 cles of lime in the l)ones, as to permit the acid to 

 reach them and effect new chemical combinations. 

 The elevated temperature of an acidified bone 

 compost for days and weeks, was entirely want- 

 ing in the small laboratory experiments of Prof. 

 G. They disprove nothing as against the chemi- 

 cal action of the oil of vitriol under widely differ- 

 ent circumstances. 



The error of Mr. Browne was hardly v/orth 

 correcting, unless other greater misstatements of 

 his relating to phosphates are also set right be- 

 fore the public. 



As phosphates are important constituents in 

 all home-made manures, and enter largely into 

 the composition of most commercial fertilizers, 

 I will say a few words more on the subject. — 

 Country Oentlenian. 



DEEP TILIiAQB, 

 A deep and thorough tillage is conducive to 

 fruitfulness in crops ; yet it is never safe to turn 

 up too large a portion of the subsoil at once. 

 The work of deepening the vegetable stratum of 

 soils should be consummated gradually ; a little 

 of the substratum only being brought up at a 

 time, — say from half to a third of an inch at each 

 successive plowing, and so on till the soil has 

 been stirred and improved to the depth required. 

 Manure should be applied liberally, and lim.e 

 sowed every time a fresh layer is brought to the 

 surface. The fall is, perhaps, the most favorable 

 season for this operation, as the soil will then 

 experience the greatest benefit from the neutral- 

 izing effect of the calcareous matter applied, and 

 from the pulverulent and disintegrating influ- 

 ence of the winter's frost. 



The quantity of lime required in this proces-s 

 of amelioration will be best determined by a 

 chemical examination of the subsoil in connec- 

 tion with that of the surface earth. If of a cal- 

 careous nature, very little lime will be required, 

 and perhaps none ; but if this principle (lime) 

 be present in only small quantities, it should be 

 supplied, and caustic lime is the best article that 

 can be used, though wood-ashes, in liberal quan- 

 tities, produce very salutary effects. 



Fur the New England Fanner. 

 EXHAUSTED SASTDY LANDS. 



Much has been said on the subject of improv- 

 ing worn-out sandy land, or old fields. Much of 

 that land was originally good rich soil, and the 

 v*'ood was cut off by the first owners, and for 

 one hundred years or more it has been con- 

 stantly under cultivation, and being warm and 

 fine land, it has been totally exhausted by abuse. 

 The custom has been to plow it about four inch- 

 es deep, and not manure it at all, take off such a 

 crop of corn as they can get, and sow it down 

 with rye, and perhaps, if convenient, throw in 

 some hay chaft', and the surface is left to blow 

 away during the winter and spring. After the 

 rye is harvested it is suffered to lay three or fcur 

 years, and then to go through the same process, 

 and so on. Now, any one may see, that in time 

 all of the alkaline and vegetable substances are 

 taken up in the stalks of corn and rye, and noth- 

 ing is left to reproduce them, and, of course, 

 nothing will grow in such exhausted land, not 

 even weeds. The only thing than can now be 

 done, is, either to put on muck and manure, and 

 plow deep to restore it to its primitive state, or 

 to suffer it to grow up into a pine forest. 



The first can easily be done ; for in most places 

 where sandy lands abound, peat swamps are at 

 hand, and in the fall, large quantities of muck 

 could easily be carted out, and in most cases it 

 would benefit the swamp meadows to make w'd- 

 er drains through them, and in such case obtcs-a 

 two objects at once. , If this course of manuring 

 and deep plowing is pursued, in a short time any 

 kind of a crop could be obtained from the old 

 fields ; large crops of grass, corn, rye, potatoes, 

 turnips, melons, &c., could be produced — also a 

 good orchard of apples, pears, peaches and cher- 

 ries. I have seen such land as the above-named 

 perfectly restored, and at the same time, more 

 than doubly pay the expense while undergoing 

 this renovating process. 



If it is desirable to let it go to wood, the best 

 way is to plow the ground, and in the fall collect 

 leaves and acorns or elm seed, and scatter them 

 in the field and brush them over. If it is desira- 

 ble, walnuts, chestnuts, beech or maple seeds 

 could be sown. The ash, maple, or English syc- 

 amore, and lime trees, make wood fast on low 

 grounds ; the Scotch larch makes trees rapidly. 

 I have trees of most of the above-named varieties 

 only fifteen years old, that are from twenty to 

 fifty feet high. 



To prevent the sand and soil from blowing off, 

 it would be advisable to cut and put on brush 

 over the surface, and by doing this, matter will 

 collect instead of being blown away. When I 



