120 



Bones as Manure. 



Vol. V. 



trouble her brain with the reports and speeches 

 of others, but acquaint her husband with them 

 in good sort and manner. Let her not suffer 

 her daughters to gad abroad on Sabbath, ex- 

 cept they be in such company as is faithful ; 

 compelling her sons to be foremost at work, 

 showing Uiem the example of their father, 

 that this may be a double spur unto the men- 

 servants; not suffering an unchaste word, 

 oath or blasphemy to be uttered in her house, 

 and causing tale-bearers to be silent, not 

 troubling themselves with other folks' mat- 

 ters. Let her keep close up her stubble and 

 the lopping of trees for the oven, not suffer- 

 ing the stalks of beans, peas, thistles, the re- 

 fuse of pressed articles, and other unprofitable 

 herbs to be lost, but burning them in winter 

 for their ashes, which will afford provision for 

 her ley-tub. Let her give good account of 

 the eggs and young ones, as well of birds as 

 of o^/jer beasts ; let her be skilful in natural 

 physic for the benefit of her own folk, and 

 others, when they fall out to be ill, and so in 

 like manner, in things good for kine, swine 

 and fowls; for to have a physician ahvay, un- 

 less the case be urgent, is not for the profit 

 of the house. Let her keep all of them of 

 her house in friendly good will, not suffering 

 them to bear malice one with another : let 

 her govern her bread, so as that no one be 

 suffered to use it otherwise than in temperate 

 sort, and reserve the dross of the grapes she 

 presseth for the servants' drink, that so the 

 wine may serve for her hiisfjand." 



It is to be presumed that Solomon had such 

 a help-mate in his eye, when he declared that 

 the price of a virtuous woman was " far above 

 rubies." D. B. 



Bones as Manure. 



Mr. Watson procured bone manure for 

 two acres of land, the greatest quantity being 

 25 bushels per Scotch acre. " This," says 

 he, " I applied the following turnip-sowing 

 season on a sharp black land, and on two ad- 

 joining acres of the same field, I applied 5i5 

 cart-loads of well-made farm-yard dung per 

 acre : the season of sowing was rather wet, 

 and not very favourable to the growth of tur- 

 nips. Those with bones came above ground 

 on the third day, very dark-coloured and 

 broad in the leaf, and by the tenth day they 

 were all in the rough blade ; at this time I 

 examined the state of tlie bone manure, and 

 found it one mass of maggots ; but two days 

 after, they were all dead, and the weather 

 being now dry and warm, the most rapid ve- 

 getation I ever remarked took place, so that 

 by the fifteenth day from the time of sowing, 

 the turnips were fully strong for being thin- 

 ned. The plants where the farm-yard dung 

 was applied, did not come up until the fifth 

 ,day, and the turnips were twenty days sown 



before they were fit for thinning, and by this 

 time the bone turnips were meeting on the 

 top of the drill, and they continued to main- 

 tain the advantage of their first start, until 

 the month of September, which set in rather 

 dry. At this time I anticipated that the bones 

 would be exhausted, and the crop stop grow- 

 ing, but such was not the case, for while the 

 dunged crop began to fade and stop growing, 

 the bone turnips kept growing vigorously. 

 4bout the middle of October, when I consi- 

 dered both crops at maturity, I had a compa- 

 rative trial of their weight carefully made, 

 the result of which was, six tons per acre in 

 favour of the bones, they being twenty-eight 

 tons per acre of Aberdeen yellow turnip; the 

 farm-yard dung, only twenty-two tons per acre. 



From this experiment, I was induced to 

 extend the use of bones on my farms, grow- 

 ing annually from 70 to 100 acres of turnips, 

 with this manure, which gives me a great 

 coimnand of dung for my other crops, I 

 have erected machinery for grinding bones, 

 my neighbours having now all become con- 

 vinced of their great superiority, and the first 

 season I sold to the amount of £1500 sterling 

 worth ; and the last season not less than 

 j£ 10,000 sterling has been paid for bones used 

 in the district of Strathmore, a great part 

 coming from Hull. 



The quantity of bone manure may be va- 

 ried from 15 to 25 bushels of dust per acre, 

 according to the state of the land, the driest 

 soils being the most benefited by their use ; 

 some difficulty was at first experienced in de- 

 positing the crushed bones, so that the plants 

 might reap all the benefit; but this is now 

 obviated by the application of a hopper and 

 trough to the turnip-drill, which conducts the 

 manure and seed into the drill at the same 

 time, and with the same expedition as sowing 

 the seed by the old machine. 



Doubts had been raised whether the suc- 

 ceeding crop of oats or barley is in any de- 

 gree benefited b}' the small quantity of bones 

 used in growing a crop of turnips.* I can 

 confidently state that, on my farms, both the 

 quantity and quality of my barley particu- 

 larly have been improved, and the grass from 

 seeds sown with it is a fortnight earlier in its 

 growth than after other manures. 



In the crop of 1825, the bone manure was 

 a great blessing to the breeders and feeders 

 of cattle in this district, and, in some instances, 

 saved the industrious tenant from ruin ; for 

 the severe drought, even of that season, did 

 not prevent a crop of turnips with bones, 

 while all other manures failed, and it was 

 thus the means of bringing through that dis- 

 astrous winter, herds of cattle which must 

 otherwise have perished for want of fodder.— 

 Quart. Jour. Agriculture. 



* See Cabinet, Vol. 3, p. 2G. 



