BONES. 



BONES. 



'hat i i those cases which have puzzled some ] it is to be used upon grass land, in the spring, 

 farmers, where land, after a long course of sue- or to young grain, it will be safer to dilute it 

 cessful hone-dressing, has at last refused to pro- | with 200 waters, but 50 waters (by weight) will 

 duce clover, the gradual exhaustion of sulphate ! be enough if it be applied to the turnip drills, 

 of lime, and perhaps of potash and other elements j Mr. Tennant thus describes the method he 

 of fertility, removed by previous crops, may 'adopts: "I put 25 bushels into three old boilers, 

 account for the failure. and next pour in two bottles of acid of alout 170 



For ornamental plantations of trees there can i Ibs. each, and 30 Scotch pints (18 imperial gallons) 

 be no manure more advantageous than bones. | of boiling water into each boiler. It boils away 

 There is a considerable portion of phosphate of I at a great rate for some time, and in a day or 

 lime in all timber trees, and there is no manure | two we empty the boilers into two cart loads of 

 of a mixed animal, earthy, and saline nature | light mould, and turn the mixture over. At this 

 which remains so long in the soil, mixed with ! stage the bones are only partially dissolved, 

 earth ; and thus previously fermented bones are but they heat and decompose in the heap, after 

 an excellent dressing for vines, and have been 'being turned over three or four times; and in 



ased with decided advantage. As a manure for 

 the use of the conservatory and the flower-gar- 

 den, there is no fertilizer more useful than bone- 

 dust; or, what is a still more elegant application, 

 the turnings and chippings of the bone turners. 

 Their use not only promotes the luxuriance of 

 the plant, but the beauty of the flowers. The 

 Sheffield florists are well aware of the value of 

 bone turnings. 



As it is desirable that American farmers should 

 be instructed in the various and most simple 

 modes of preparing vitriolized bones or super- 

 phosphate of lime mentioned in a preceding pa- 

 graph we subjoin a few more of the plans 

 adopted in England. 



The bones, in the form of bone-dust, or, 

 where bone-mills are not at hand, simply broken 

 in pieces with a hammer, may be put into a 

 cast-iron, stone, earthenware, or strong wooden 

 trough, cask, or other vessel, mixed with half 

 their weight of boiling water, and then with half 

 their weight of the strong oil of vitriol of the 

 shops, stirring constantly while the latter is 

 slowly poured in. A powerful boiling up, or 

 effervescence at first takes place, but which 

 gradually subsides. By occasional stirring, the 

 whole assumes the appearance of a thick paste ; 

 the pieces of bone disappear by degrees, and 

 after a week or ten days the whole may be taken 

 out and mixed with a little sawdust, charcoal- 

 powder, charred peat, or fine dry earth, to make 

 it dry enough to pass through the drill, and 

 thus be immediately applied to the land. It 

 would be better to prepare the bones a month 

 at least before using them, and to lay them up 

 in a heap for awhile, with a view to their more 

 perfect decomposition. Where the pieces of bone 

 are large this is especially desirable, as other- 

 wise they will not be fully decomposed without 

 a larger addition both of water and of acid. Or, 

 the mixture of acid and bones, as above, may 

 after a couple of days be further mixed with a 

 quantity of light friable soil, and laid up into a 

 heap for seven or eight weeks, with occasional 

 turning; the bones thus heat, decompose, and 

 dry up, so as to be ready for putting into the drill 

 without further preparation. This method, how- 

 ever, requires more acid, and it is not unusual, 

 in employing it, to take equal weights of acid 

 and of bones. Professor J. F. W. Johnston re- 

 commends the following plan for preparing bones 

 into a liquid manure : Take equal weights of 



the course of seven or eight weeks the compost 

 becomes dry, and breaks down with a shovel." 



It is important to know that oil of vitriol 

 varies in strength, from water added purposely 

 or attracted from the atmosphere, as will always 

 be the case when left in open vessels, which, 

 when partly empty, will soon become full again 

 from the water attracted. The purest oil of 

 vitriol has a specific gravity of about 1.85, one 

 gallon weighing as much as 1.7 or 1.8 gallons 

 of water. That of commerce ought to have a 

 specific gravity of about 1.45 or 1.5, that is to 

 say, be about half as heavy again as water, 

 so that one gallon of oil of vitriol shall weigh 

 as much as a gallon and a half of water. More 

 of it must be used if weak. The price varies 

 with the strength, from 2| to 3 cts. per Ib. 

 The great heat produced by the mixing of 

 oil of vitriol and water, acting on the animal 

 portions of the bones, makes these of a dark 

 colour ; but, if a small quantity of acid only be 

 employed, the mixture is white, from the car- 

 bonate of lime which then predominates. The 

 fat, gristle, and other organic matter united with 

 bones, in the state in which these are usually 

 employed by farmers, constitutes about 1-3 of 

 their weight. Mr. Hannum reckons the soft 

 parts of bone, when very fresh, at 45 per cent. 

 Four bushels of ground bones, which may be 

 considered a fair allowance for an acre, will 

 weigh, in a fine state, from 168 to 180 Ibs. 

 This last-named quantity contains 12| Ibs. of 

 carbonate of lime, and the first action of the 

 acid is to seize upon this, displace its car- 

 bonic acid, and convert the lime into sulphate 

 of lime or gypsum. The quantity of the acid re- 

 quired for this first change is 10 Ibs. The acid 

 having thus decomposed the carbonate of lime 

 in the bones and converted it into plaster of Pa- 

 ris, next turns upon the phosphates, of which 

 the 4 bushels contains about 106 Ibs., 47 Ibs, 

 being lime and 59 Ibs. phosphoric acid. 33 Ibs. 

 of the vitriolic acid unites with half the lime, or 

 23- Ibs., to form more gypsum. The other half 

 of the lime unites with a double portion of phos- 

 phoric acid to produce the desired super-phos- 

 phate. Thus about 43 Ibs. of acid will be re- 

 quired to effect the necessary changes in the 4 

 bushels of bones. 



Instead of the sulphuric acid, muriatic acid 

 has been substituted in similar quantity, diluted 

 and treated in the same manner. The cost per 



bone-aust, of boiling water, and of acid, and mix acre and the produce obtained were very much 

 together, occasionally stirring them for a week j the same. Where no manure was applied, and 

 or ten days; when the particles of bone have the produce per acre was only about 7 tons of 

 nearly disappeared, from 50 to 100 times more turnips, the superphosphate of lime made from 4 

 water may be added to the mixture, and the bushels of bones increased the produce to 17$ 

 liquid thus diluted applied by a water cart. If j tons. See PHOSPHATES. 

 202 



