VOIj. .\ VI. .ro. 35. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



in arable, whether on the fallow or the white cnrn 

 crop, on the seeds or on the last crop, and in nil 

 at what period of the year. To all these again we 

 must add llie Biainier of aijplieatioii, whether ns 

 raw, or after passing throiigli processes of manu- 

 facture — in what quantity — of what size and 



whether hroad-cast or drilled. 



On the clay and Inaniy soils the returns are not 

 so numerous, liut sufficiently so to warrant defi- 

 nite conclusions. These comprise the clay dis- 

 trict lying north of Rotherham,and the occasional 

 occurrence of it in this neighhorhood. On the 

 peat which Is founil in and on llie borders of the 

 level of Hatfield chaee some interesting returns 

 are made ; an<l it ps only upon the warp (which 

 is an alluvial soil almost peculiar to the banks of 

 the Trent and Ouse) that a single return is the 

 limit. These soils we deem a fair specimen of 

 those usually classed under the same names thro'- 

 out the kingdom. 



It would appear that the use of bones within 

 the district we have alluded to is of very modern 

 introduction, the average of returns would "ot 

 reach twenty years, and only one alludes to their 

 use beyond the term of forty years. Colonel St. 

 Leger, then residing at Warinsworth, was the first 

 person who is known to have used them, and his 

 introduction was in 1775. Mr Horncastle's ex- 

 periment in 1794, which will be subsequently al- 

 luded to for the purpose of explaining their ill 

 success, was another of the earli.'r efforts; the 

 early progress does not seem to have been rapid, 

 from the practice of laying them on almost un- 

 broken and in very large quantities; and it is only 

 within the last fifteen years, when the practice of 

 grinding them was introduced, that tl-.ey have ex- 

 cited general attention. 



The returns received satisfiictorily establish the 

 great value of bones as a manure, though "exper- 

 iiiicnts on manure in this varying climate are not 

 much to be depended upon. The seasons, whether 

 wet or dry, the previous state of the land, and the 

 component parts of if, all lend to make experi- 

 ments doubtful in their comparative results. Yet, 

 where a course of practice so long established as 

 the use of bones has fun;ished such nji amount of 

 experiments, all doubt may at once lie discarded." 

 Our corresii<Hl|i;nts, with only two exceptions, all 

 concur in stating them to be a highly valuable 

 manure, and on light dry soils superior to farm 

 yard dung and all other manures. In copying 

 the language of one of them with reference to dry 

 sandy soils, we express the opinions repeated in 

 the far greater number, " I consider bone tillage 

 one of the most useful manures which have ever 

 been discovered for the farmer's benefit. The 

 lightness of carriage, its suitableness for the drill, 

 and its general fertilizing properties, render it pe- 

 culiarly valmible in those parts where distance 

 from towns renders it impossible to procure ma- 

 nures of a heavier and. more bulky description ;" 

 for as stated by another, " the carting of six, eight, 

 or ten loads of manure per acre for one mile only 

 is no trifling expense." '' The use of bones di- 

 minishes labor at a season of the year too when 

 time is of the first importance, for one wagon load 

 of one hundred and twenty bushels of small drill 

 bones is equal to forty or fifty cart loads of fold 

 manure." 



Upon very thin^sand land its value is not to be 

 estimated ; it is not only found to benefit the par- 

 ticular crop to which it is applied, but extends 

 through the whole course of crops ; and even in 



the succeeding courses its effects are visible in 

 the im|)roved quality of the laml, and the efScien- 

 cy of a smaller quantity than would al fir.^t have 

 ensured a crop. The Hon. J. Simpson states, 

 " that upon much of the highland about Habworth, 

 which is a light sandy soil, the crops under the 

 ordinary farm management were compaialively 

 nnprodiu'tive ; but that since the introduction of 

 bones, after having for several fallows been dress- 

 ed with sixty or seventy bushels per acre, not only 

 have they beitome pioduetive, but so much im- 

 proved in quality as to return an equal crop with 

 a much lighter dressing of manure or bones thro'- 

 ont the next course." 



On the dry limestones near Doncaster the same 

 favorable results have been obtained, and no fail- 

 ures, beyond those attributable to ])eculiarity of 

 season, are noticed. On the Yorkshire wolds it 

 appears that on Sir Francis Wood's c;tate at Gar- 

 rowby, " by the frequent recurrence of turnips, 

 the crops dwindled to nothing, and the fallows, 

 though tolerably manured, were covered only 

 with galeopsis tetrahit (common hemp nettle,) 

 sper^ula arvensis (spurry,) and other weeds, in- 

 stead of turnip plants. By the use of the very 

 small quantity of twelve to twenty bushels of hone 

 dust in drills, the turnip crops are now rendered 

 excellent, and the following crops very consider- 

 ably improved." Of the Lincolnshire wolds, the 

 facts collected by Mr Beckett Denison of Doncas- 

 ter are equally striking, embodying the experience 

 of fifteen or sixteen extensive farmers. " Before 

 bones were generally used with turnip seed, many 

 thousand acres were annually sown for that crop 

 without any manin-e whatever; from the inipossi- 

 bility of getting fold manure for more than one- 

 third or fourth of their fallows. The turnips 

 upon such unmanured land were consequently 

 very indifferent, and the benefit of sheep feeding 

 upon their tops (for bottoms they had seldom 

 any,) was very trifling. Since the use of bones 

 has become general, the turnip crop has been in 

 many instances tenfold, and in few less than four 

 or fivefold its former bulk. All the succeeding 

 crops of grain and seeds have been amazingly in- 

 creased ; and upon the four or five shift system 

 tbei-e is no doubt the lanil will go on progres- 

 sively improving, requiring a less quantity of 

 bones annually, from its increased fertility and 

 power. These limestone soils are generally near 

 the rock or chalk. 



On the light loams the reports are favorable, 

 giving it a preference to the ordinary dressing of 

 farm-yard dung. On the heavy loams and clays 

 the experiments are unfavorable. It is laid down 

 as a necessary qualification in a soil for bones that 

 it should be dry, ami only one excepti(m appears 

 in the whole of the returns. Mr Marsden, upon 

 what he describes a wet sand soil, with an irony 

 colored subsoil, drilled two qinirters per acre, and 

 hail an excellent crop, where manure had been 

 previously tried without effect. But these ex|:ei-- 

 iments being made in the years 182(3 and 1827, 

 which were unusually dry, may serve to explain 

 the fact, and preserve the common principle unaf- 

 fected. We ai'e upon this principle authorized to 

 infer, the clay soils are in general too moist to 

 receive any considerable benefit from bone til- 

 lage. 



Upon peat soils, observing the principle that 

 they must be previously laid dry, the advantages 

 of bone manure are reported to be very striking. 

 From fifteen to twenty bushels of dust per acre, 



drilled, have been found to surpass very far the or- 

 dinary dressing of farm-yard <lung, and even lime 

 anu pigeons' <lung. 



Two repnrls on this head, which are unfavora- 

 ble, are explained by the tact of the peat being 

 moist and not suflicieutly dried. 



The single report upon warped laud which we 

 before alluded to is decidedly favorai)le, but this 

 was not upon river warped land, but warped by 

 trenching. 



Upon gi-avels little is said, and ih;il little con- 

 tradictory in t:ie letter, although reconcilable in 

 principle. A gravelly soil may embrace every 

 variety of texture and quantity, from the light 

 dry sand to the water-logged yellow clay ; pre- 

 serving in each the necessary admixture of stone 

 and grit. Upon the light dry gravel, one report 

 is favorable, though in another a strong opinion 

 is hazar-ded against even dry gravels. But the re- 

 port on wet gravel is decidedly unfavorable, ac- 

 cording in this with the general principle. 



To the general testimony to the excellency of 

 this manure, we may add the following particular 

 facts of its durability. " On a field, part of which 

 was boned fifty years ago, thikciops were on that 

 |)art visibly better for fifteen or sixteen succeeding 

 years than the remaining part, although the land 

 was all of the same quality ; and part not boned 

 was manmed with farm-yard dung. In another 

 case, "about three acres of light sandy land were 

 boned with one himdred and fifty bushels per 

 acre by mistake, and although it was as far bnck 

 as the year 1814, the land has never forgotten it, 

 but is nearly half as good again as the other part, 

 farmed precisely in the same way with the excep- 

 tion of the one dressing of bones." 



It is noted as the peculiarity of bones, to suc- 

 ceed upon dry soils, and in dry seasons, when 

 common manure loses much of its efficacy. Mr 

 Birks remarks, " I have noticed the turnifs of my 

 neigl.'hors who have used ten loads of one year 

 old fold manui-e, have been nearly destroyed by . 

 the Ry, while mine with bones, and two year old. 

 fold manure, and a jirevious slight top dressing of 

 Knottingley lime, have been but slightly, iiijured. 

 1 think a quantity of thc^egg or grubs which pro-, 

 duce the fly, is generated' m the one year old fold' 

 manure, that the continued sunshine matures 

 them, and for want of rain or cool' weather to 

 ihin them, they all come into action against the 

 plant. With the use of a small quantity of two 

 year old manure with the bones, a less number of 

 the insects is brought to life. There is also a 

 disease in turnips called fingers and toes, which 

 is occasioned by an insect within the turnips. 1. 

 am confident my turnips have been less subiccted. 

 lo this disorder than those grown on one year oldi. 

 fold manure, hr thin, samly, and \>orous soils,,, 

 and where the sidisoil is gravelly, also on fW 

 sides of hills, much of the essential part of fold 

 manmi) and of rape dust and otiier top dressing- 

 is often washed away by rain. 5f there is a long 

 successioir of heavy rain, the loss to such manure 

 is vei-y great. In very hot and dry seasons,^ the 

 virtues of fold manure are also suddeidy evapora-- 

 ted. But on dry land, bone manure in all seasons 

 and under all cir-cumstances is durable." In Mr 

 Williams's experinrents on a light sand in 1827 

 he states, " this being a | articularly dry season, 

 the only good Swedes was with bone manure, and 

 I never had a better crop. I this year tried an 

 experiment of bones against farm manure for 

 Swedes, am) fciund the bones superior." Thq 



