396 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JUNK SO, I83S. 



BONE MANURE. 



Boston, March 26, 1838. 

 Francis Jacksojv, Esq. 



Dear Sir — I have at your request collected 

 from sources on vvliicli I think entire rHJiMnce 

 may be placed, the subjoined sugnestioiiH on the 

 value and use of Bone .Manure. Your ist.ibjisli- 

 ment :it Uoxbury is a most valuable one to the ag- 

 ricultural interests of the State ; and 1 wish you 

 all possible success. 



Respectfully yours, 



HENRY COLMAN. 



BoNF.s, it is well ascertained, contain in an abun- 

 dant foriri the food of plants. They are made up 

 of a lar^'e amount of animal sniistance mixed 

 with earthly and saline matter ; and they abound 

 in what chemists call the phosphate of lime, a 

 substance found in some measure in all plants, 

 and a powerful means and instrument of vegeta- 

 ble growth. 



Bones have been used as a manure for many 

 years in England. Used in an unbroken state 

 they were slow in becoming decomposed; and 

 llieir effects were not very observable. The ne.xt 

 attempt was to reduce them by burning; but be- 

 sides the ex|)ense and trouble of doing this, much 

 of the valuable matter contained in them escaped 

 by the o])eration. Afterwards mills were invent- 

 ed for crushing or grinding Ibem ; and since tliat 

 time they have been experimented u|)on in vari- 

 ous soils: and are now sought after by intelligent 

 farmers abroad with the greatest avidity. There 

 is no reason why they should not be used to as 

 great advantage among us. 



Bone.s constitute a very efficient manure ; a 

 portable manure ; and a comparatively clieap 

 manure. Stable manure in Boston and its vicini- 

 ty costs the farmer in its first purchase, its trans- 

 portation, and its preparation for the land, not far 

 from five dollars a cord. His land may be man- 

 ured with bone manure, with equal advantage and 

 for a third of the expense of stable manure; and 

 its actual improvement of the soil will be more 

 permanent. 



In h'ngland this manure has been principally 

 used for turnips. This is the crop which on their 

 land commonly precedes wheat. The effect on 

 their turnip crop is very great; causing lauds to 

 produce a crop, which had been comparatively 

 barren ; forwarding the crop several days in ad- 

 vance of that manured with stable manure; and 

 greatly increasing the product. 'I'he effects have 

 been moat beneficial upon all the succeeding crops 

 of grain and grass. Few decisive experiments 

 have been made as yet in this country ; but in one 

 case the last season, where applied to ruta baga 

 growing side by side with a crop manured by sta- 

 ble manure, 25 bushels of bones produced a much 

 better crop than a heavy dressing of barn dung. 



They have been used with signal advantage 

 spread upon gra.ss land, the feed being greatly 

 improved, and the return from the stock fed upon 

 it, in milk and butter through the season, very 

 much increased. 



Their eflTects upon the cultivation of wheat, in 

 Great Britain, have be(;n thus stated after careful 

 observation, compared with best stable manure. 

 " In respect to the quality of the grain, as 7 to 5. 

 In respect to the quantity, as 5 to 4. 



Ill respect to the durability of its effects on 



the soil, as 3 to 2." 



In these cases, likewise, are to be taken into 



consideration the difference in the cost of the two 



applications; the lightness of transportation of 

 bone manure; and the ease of applying it to the soil. 



Of its ap[)lication to Indian Corn no experi- 

 ments have come within my knowledge; but its 

 ailvantages cannot be questioned. 



As to the form in which it is to be applied to 

 the land, it has been tried in the form of broken 

 dust ; of pieces crushed to the average length of 

 half an inch; and of larger pieces. If to be 

 S|)read broad-cast upon grass land, it should be 

 Hue; and in all cases the more finely it is reduc- 

 ed the more immediate are its effects. In long 

 pieces their application is not convenient nor effi- 

 cient. In the mill at Roxbury, near Boston, they 

 are crushed in small pieces, and at the same time 

 in the jirocess much conies out in the form of 

 fine dust. This is undoubtedly the best form in 

 which they can be furnished ; the fine dust sup- 

 [)lies the vegetable pabulum for immediate use ; 

 and the pieces being longer and gradual in their 

 decomposition effect a permanent improvement 

 of the soil. To the turnip crop they are applied 

 in the drill with the seed ; and in their applica- 

 tion to Indian corn it might be advisable to de- 

 positc them in the hill. 



They are sometimes applied singly or mixed 

 with dung or mould. To be thus mixed is deem- 

 ed the best mode of applying them, and in this 

 case the dung should be decomposed and fine. A 

 compost is formed of bone dust and barn-yard 

 scrapings and muck in the following proportions: 



From 50 bushels of bone to 4 er 5 of dung, 

 " 20 do. to 4 do. 



" 12 do. tog do. 



The proportions, however, must be matter of 

 judgment and experiment with tlie cultivator. 



It is deemed important, in the next place, that 

 the bones should have acquired a degree of heat 

 by being laid in a heap before application to the 

 soil. They will soon ferment laid iu a heap and 

 mixed with earth or dung are in a condition to 

 he used. It is deemed well if this preparation of 

 them can be made a month before they are to be 

 applied. 



Of the quantity to be applied no certain rule 

 can be given. From 16 to 80 and 100 bushels 

 have been applied : 25 bushels of fine bone dust, 

 or 40 bushels of crushed bones, pieces and dust 

 together, »i=e considered proper proportions for an 

 acre. Persons have found that a l.urger applica- 

 tion than this has not been attended with corres- 

 ponding advantages ; indeed that 25 bushels have 

 been as efficient as 80. As it respects the per- 

 manent improvement of the land there is no 

 doubt that the larger qtiantity would be in pro- 

 portion efficient ; but as to immediate effects no 

 advantage is to be expected from an excessive ap- 

 plication ; as a small application will probably fur- 

 nish all of that kind of food or stimulant, vvhich 

 the plant or a single crop will take up. Eight 

 bushels of bone dust mixed with eight bushels of 

 coal ashes, are represented in one experiment as 

 efficient as the whole amount of bone dust. This 

 was, however, only a single experiment; and the 

 permanence of the effects had not been tested. I 

 mention this mode, not so much from confidence 

 ill its success as in the hopes of (iroducing ex- 

 periments, which may prove instructive and use- 

 ful. 



Of the kind of soil to which bone manure is 



best suited, some matters are well determined. On 



wet and heavy soils it will notanswer. On clayey 



soils it is stated to have proved positively injiiri- 



' , dry and sandy soils it has proved 



most efficacious. It is indispensable to obtaining 

 their benefits, that the land should be dry. Lands 

 deficient in lime are much more benefited by its 

 use than lands abounding in lime. This was to 

 be expected, as a combination of lime forms a 

 considerable part of their .substance. On peat 

 soils, when thoroughly- drained, its efficacy is very 

 great; and, mixed with sandy mould, perhaps no 

 application could be belter for peat soils, when 

 laid entirely dry. 



The bone dust, which is to bo obtained, is that 

 from bones which have passed through the soap 

 boiler's hands. This deprives tliem un<Ioubtedly 

 of some portion of their gelatinous or oily prop- 

 erties, and renders them less valuable than if they 

 could be broken aiul applied in an uncooked state j 

 but the effect of this operation is not like that of 

 calcining to deprive them of all the soft and oily 

 matter; a great deal remains, and exfieriment has 

 proved that their efficiency is diminished in a 

 much less degree than would be supposed. 



This is the best and most authentic information 

 that I have been able to collect on the subject. 

 My own experiments with them have been on a 

 small scale; but accidental circumstances pre- 

 vented my giving them a fair test. I have great 

 c<rufidence in their utility ; and their portable 

 character must strongly recommend them. They 

 may be sent by railroad and water conveyances 

 into the interior in many cases at almost as small 

 an expense as the manure in some places can bo 

 carried from the barn into the fields. If they ful- 

 fil what they promise, the market gardeners in the 

 neighborhood of the city must find them invalua- 

 ble. 



From what has been here slated we may draw 

 these conclusions : 



1. Bones constitute a most valuable manure. 



2. The soils to which they are most usefully 

 applied are sandy and light soils ; and the land 

 must be dry. On heavy loams and clays they are 

 not useful. To peat lands completely drained 

 they may be applied with advantage. 



3. They may be sown broadcast ; or they may 

 be placed in the hill or drill. In either case they 

 are not to be buried deep. 



4. They are best applied mixed with mould, or 

 finely rotted barn yard manure at the rate of six 

 bushels of bone rwanure to one load of dung. 



5. They may be applied to soils at the rate of 

 twenty bushels of bone dust or forty bushels of 

 crushed bones to an acre. 



6. For immediate effect bone dust is to be pre- 

 ferred. For permanent improvement bones whicli 

 are merely crushed into small pieces. At the- 

 Roxbury mill the prepared bone contains much 

 fine powder mixed with the crushed bone. 



7. Before they are applied they should under- 

 go a degree of fermentation. 



8. They may be applied to grass and to pasture 

 lands with great benefit. 



It is hoped that the farmers, who apply them 

 will carefully observe their operation and effects; 

 and communicate the results to the .Agricultural 

 Commissioner of the State. « 



Their effi:(;ts, iu general, have been much su- 

 perior to that of stable manure. This has not al- 

 ways proved so ; but their lightness of carriage, 

 ease of application, and cheapness are very strong 

 circumstances in their favor. Another circum- 

 stance most strongly in their favor, i.s, that applied 

 in great or small quantities, they carry no weeds, 

 into the fields. This is a most valuable quality. 



