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276 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



MARCH 7, 1838. 



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general e.xperienee is rlecidedly in favor of si dry 

 season licing stiitahle for bones, allhon^:h it is seen 

 lliat ill Uie excessive drought of 1826--7, many 

 failures even with bones are recorded. We have 

 two opiiiidus of a moist season being most favor- 

 nble to tlie action of bone manure. Were it not 

 that the parties given tlieni liad used bones, the 

 one eiiiliteen and the other twelve years, ue mis'it 

 eonelude the opinion had been formed from the 

 results of those extraordinary years ; we would, 

 however, infer as the explanation, that the soils on 

 which they appeared v/ere more than usually dry 

 and liable to drought. 



The beneficial efl'ect upon the after crops from 

 bones applied to turuips, is (in conformity with 

 the opinion notoriously current in this neighbor- 

 hood) stated "to depend mainly upon the turnip 

 crop itself." If that crop is heavy the eating them 

 off by sheep is believed to add mere to the fertility 

 of the land than even the bones themselves. In 

 proportion to the numlier of sheep which can be 

 fed per acre is the benefit to the land. The re- 

 sults on the Duke of Newcastle's estate, may be 

 taken as the experience of every fanner upon the 

 like soils: " whenever a crop of turnips is obtain- 

 ed upon dry sandy or gravelly soils, the succeed- 

 ing crops of corn and grass seeds are usually 

 abundant, except in very dry seasons; but when- 

 ever turnips miss, the subsequent crops of corn 

 and seeds are seldom iiroduetive, unless assisted 

 by an additional rjiiantity of manure. It must be 

 obvious, therefore, that any measure which will 

 redu(;e this crop to a greater certainly is of the 

 highest vidue. 



Concurring with these proofs of the excellency 

 of bones, it is highly gratifying to find proofs of a 

 rapidly extending demand for them. In no one 

 return, in answer to the query in our circular, Do 

 you continue to use them? has the answer been 

 in the. negative. The impression which is preva- 

 lent in niir neighborhood, that he is not to be ac- 

 counted n good farmer who does not use them, is 

 echoed from the wolds of Lincolnshire. In Ber- 

 wickshire it appears "their use is rapidly increas- 

 ing, and every person who has made trial of them 

 seems (piite satisfied of their ntility." # # * 

 Having now endeavored to give an outline of 

 the results of the use of bone tillage, we must de- 

 scend into the practical details of the time and 

 manner of its application. To consider first the 

 time of its application, we inquire, on grass land 

 or on arable ? 



Upon grass the returns are not numerous ; those 

 which are received are very favorable, and state 

 the herbage, whether for hay or pasture, to be in- 

 ci-'^ased in quality and quantity. Six hundred 

 busliei'." °^ small bones were in 1822 spread u|ion 

 rfw.enty-foMr acres of grass Innd in the dairy farm, 

 Iciuwber Pai.k, consisting of (by sandy and grav- 

 elly soil which had been laid down about ten 

 years. It had «■ very good cflTeel, the cows depas- 

 tured on it were in better condition, and about 

 .t\yico the .quantity of butter was gathered from 

 ihem than from cows depastured upon land of 

 ijiinilar quality, but not boned; and this eft'eei still 

 continues. Mr Hirks obsBrves, '• with respect to 

 grass land, the extent of the fertilizing quality of 

 bones is still greater than on arable." Valuers 

 usually eistimate the-allowaiicc to a quitting tenant 

 with respect to SlielKeld bones, liy siijiposing 

 them in tillage land and on meadow ground ex- 

 hausted in lour years ; hut in grass land depas- 

 flired they are considered to he exliausted in 



eight. But if alternate lands of a pasture field 

 were tilled, one with common manure, the other 

 with good bones, the great superiority of the latter 

 would be visible for twenty years. 



Upon arable, we have to consider the stage of 

 its inlroduction into a' regular cr)urse of manage- 

 ment. The whole of our coi respondents adopt 

 the application upon tlie fallow, and ttiirteen have 

 also used it for the intermediate crops, particularly 

 the last crop in the course. The eflTect of its ap- 

 plication to the intermediate crops is not very care- 

 fully separated from the effects upon fallow ; but 

 we seem authorised, in the absence of any obser- 

 vation to the contrary, to infer, that the efiects are 

 good, although from the greater prevalency of the 

 fallow application, this may be considered prefer- 

 able. If the seeds are niamired on the plan be- 

 fore recommended, there will lie little need of the 

 hones for the last crop; but if the manure is need- 

 ed, bones are found to answer the purpose. The 

 effects of rape dust and other manures called ar- 

 tificial will be subsequently stated. 



Upon the fitllovvs, the general time of applying 

 them is previously to or at the same time with the 

 tnrnip seed in May, June, July, and August. For 

 the intermediate crops, the bones will be applied 

 with the seed. 



The next point of inquiry is the manner in 

 which they are best used ; this embraces as well 

 the method of putting them into the land by dril- 

 ling or broadcast after they are prepared, as 

 also the biSt manner of preparation, whether 

 broken, large or small, whether raw or after hav- 

 ing undergone processes of manufacture, and 

 whether singly or mixed with other manures. — 

 Tlie remaining branch of inquiry will be the quan- 

 tity. 



First, then, as Jo the drilling or broad-casting ; 

 the gfcat weight of evidence is in favor of drilling, 

 although the contrary course is held by some very 

 intelligent farmers. A third mode is acted upon 

 by others, of sowing them broadcast, and gather- 

 ing them into ridges with a mould-plough. Mr 

 Workman prefers broadcast for barley, and the 

 Rev. G. Wright and I\Ir Weldon prefer broadcast 

 for the white turuips, allhough in other cases they 

 give the preference to the drill. * • # * 



In their preparation a decided preference seeiris 

 to be given to bones broken small, and the half- 

 inch bones are those most generally used. Mr 

 Birks states, " If I were to till for early profit, 1 

 would use bones powdered as small as sawdust ; 

 if I wished to keep my land in good heart, I would 

 use priuciiially half-inch bones, and in breaking 

 these I should prefer some remaining considera- 

 bly larger." Reasons for this belief are thus stat- 

 eil by Mr \Voodcock : ''By using bones of a large 

 size with dust in them, I think I have sufficient 

 of the small particles of the dust to set the turnip 

 cro|> forward, and sufScient of the large |)article 

 of tlie bone left to maintain the land in good con- 

 dition lor the last crop. 



The quantity, however, is on all hands allowed 

 to depend almost entirely on the size of the hones. 

 It appears that in the earlier stages of their use, 

 before they were commonly ground down, as 

 much as an hundred bushels and upwards were 

 laid on per acre. Now the average of our returns, 

 although wo have reason to believe it ii much 

 above the general average of the country, amounts 

 to about thirty-nine bushels per acre. * * * 

 The best judgment we can come to upon the 

 facts before us warrants our conclusion, that an 



ordinary dressing of bone tillage broken down 

 to the smallest size above dust is twenty-f.ve bush- 

 els, and of the half-inch and inch bones fortyi 

 bushels ; that this would be the qwantity requisite 

 on land of ordinary quality, and in an ordinary 

 state of cultivation ; the poorer or worse cultivat- 

 ed lands requiring a greater quantity, and those 

 in a higher state of cultivation or richer, a less. 



Another point witli respect to the state of the 

 bones is whether they are preferable in their raw 

 state, or after they have passed through an oil oi 

 glue manufactory. It is acknowieilged hy out 

 correspiuidents to be a prevalent opinion among 

 intelligent farmers, that manufactured hones aw 

 equal in their effects to the raw bones. MiShor 

 states an experiment he made in the year 1812 

 " He boned twenty-four acres at the rate of fiftj 

 bushels an acre — on one part he put Londor 

 bones, having had the oil stewed out of them 

 and another part was tilled with bones, collecteo 

 from Nottingham, which were fidl of marrow 

 and a tliiid part with horses' bones, having mucM 

 flesh upon them. He could not see any difference 

 in the turnips, they all being a good crop ; bid 

 the next crop was not so good where the flesh;! 

 bones had been laid." He adds it as his firti^j 

 opinion, "that bones act soonest for being boilet 

 or stewed, as the fibres of the turnips or any othe 

 plant take hold of them sooner after the olenginoui^ 

 part, which impedes their decomposition, is takeiij 

 from them either by boiling or stewing. 



Mr Broughton however states, that he has fount 

 bones in their raw state much superior in point o 

 their duration to the manufactured bones. An oh 

 servation of Mr Horncastle's may lead to the ex 

 planation of this seeming contradiction. "Myopin 

 ion is, that bones are not a manure until t|iey hav 

 undergone some degree of fermentation, after whic 

 they will more readily decompose. Jt is knowi 

 that a strong fermentation takes place when boile 

 by the bone collectors in London. After being i 

 a heap they became extremely offensive ; and vvhei 

 they obtain this bad smell, I consider they are in 

 state to break up for manure. They are also liabhi 

 to heat when in a great body on board ship; but ai 

 I know nothing of chemistry I hope the subjeo 

 will be considered by those who are more capabid 

 I judge from experiments made by me in the yeai* 

 1794, 1796, and 1814." As these experiments tew 

 to throw light up6n this dilTicult subject, we suBi 



oin them. 



" The first bones which I used (in 1794) wei 

 from the dog-kennels; I had them broken at Ol 

 Coats mill, and spread them on a fresh ploughe' 

 clover lay the same day. On the following da 

 wheat was sown, and the bones and wheat harrow 

 ed in together. The quantity was about eight 

 bushels on one acre; the crop was bad, and I n ev« 

 could observe any good effect from these bones at 

 terwards. This was upon high sand land. I 

 1796 I sent another wagon load of kennel bones t 

 be broken; they were spread the following da 

 U)iou a piece of fallow upon Blyth Forest, at ti 

 rate of about eighty bushels per acre, and we' 

 ploughed in by a very thin furrow on which turn 

 seed was sown: there was a full plant, but the tui 

 nips were small, and did not appear to derive muc 

 advantage from the bones, neither did the succeei 

 ing crops. I shall here observe, that after thet 



