26 



Dialogue betive.en a Father and a Son. 



Vol. IIL 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Sir, — I beg your acceptance of a chapter 

 of the Dialogues " Between a Father and Son, 

 on the subject of Agriculture and Husband- 

 ry," and with my best wishes for the success 

 of your interesting publication, subscribe my- 

 self J. p. 



Dialogue "betw^een a Father and Son. 



BONE MANURE. 



trunk. — How much we have lately heard 

 on the value of bone manure. I long to wit- 

 ness the effects of our experiment of last week 

 in the Home Close : eight bushels an acre 

 only, will save a mountain of labor in the cart- 

 age of manure, if it be nothing else. 



Father. — Within these few years, bones 

 have been an article of great request for ma- 

 • nure; and horrib.e as it may appear to us, it 

 is said, the battle fields of Europe, and espe- 

 cially that of Waterloo, have been dug up for 

 the purpose of obtaining the human and ani- 

 mal bones which they contained, and which 

 have been sent, by whole cargoes, to other 

 parts, to be ground up for manure, perhaps 

 for other purposes! They are crushed by 

 means of large iron cylinders, set with iron 

 teeth, which draw in and crush in an instant 

 the bones of a horses head, while the fire will 

 fly from the teeth in a surprising manner. 

 You have heard of phosphorus — this is ob- 

 tained from bones, and teeth are supposed to 

 yield a large proportion, so that this fire is 

 phosphoric. 



When bones are ground fine, they are used 

 as a manure for turneps, a small quantity be- 

 ing drilled with the seed at the time of sow- 

 ing : the eifect is truly astonishing. I have 

 seen portions of the same field left for the 

 purpose, without this dressing of bone dust, 

 by the side of those which had obtained it; 

 the turneps, on the undressed parts, were not 

 larger than walnuts, while those on the dress- 

 ed land were as large as your hat, and sold 

 for $25 per acre ; while those on the undress- 

 ed were not worth one. Upon poor, sandy 

 hills, where, to drag up any other kind of ma- 

 nure would be worth more than the crop, 

 bone dust works wonders, as by it, as good 

 crops can be obtained as in the valleys by 

 the aid of farm-yard manure; and the crops 

 of all kinds feel the effects for many years 

 afler. To prove that animal manures are 

 more lasting in their effects than any other, 

 I will relate a circumstance which took place 

 forty years ago — the truth of which you may 

 rely upon. A boy, while rolling a crop of 

 barley on one of the hills of the Isle of Wight, 

 unfortunately fell under the heavy roller and 

 was crushed Hat; and although the body was 

 immediately removed a great ([uantity of the 

 blood and juices thereof was lotl where the 

 lad had fallen. On this spot the crop grew 



to twice tlie height of that on any other part 

 of the field, and was of a deep green color ; 

 and to this day, the same spot, let the crop be 

 what it might, is still discernible from its 

 greener color. 



Frank. — To how many uses bones are ap- 

 plied ! I have heard that from them is ex- 

 tracted the spirit of hartshorn, which is in 

 such general use as a medicine ; and I have 

 lately seen buttons made of bone, equal in 

 appearance to ivory. 



Father. — They are, and I have sometimes 

 thought that the "Life and Adventures of a 

 Bone" might be worked up into a very inter- 

 esting book for children. Suppose now, we 

 try our hand at it, by way of outline. W'^ 

 will, if you please, take the bone of the fore 

 leg of the famous horse Hclipse, (I should 

 tell you I have seen a leg of that surprising 

 animal,) the birth and parentage of which 

 must be peculiarly interesting — how that he 

 remained for years unnoticed, and was sold 

 for a comparatively small sum to a butcher, 

 to whom Colonel Kelly gave 1,000 guineas 

 for one-half share of him, and laid a wager 

 that he would distance every horse that he 

 started with that day, 13 in number, and that 

 he absolutely did it, and all that : and that, 

 after a most wonderful career of success, at 

 his death this bone fell into the hands of a 

 bone boiler, who extracted from it the fat for 

 making soap ; after which, he burnt part of it 

 in an enclosed cylinder, and during the com- 

 bustion, the black, stinking liquor which 

 dropped from it was carefully preserved, and 

 being purified, part of it was enclosed in a 

 golden locket set round with diamonds, and 

 presented to Queen Victoria, to be worn on 

 her Coronation day, as a most valuable per- 

 fume ; while another part was sold to a ba- 

 ker to be mixed up with his dough, to cause 

 it to rise in the oven as light as a sponge, 

 but which, after performing this office, was 

 arrested in its progress up the chimney, in a 

 state of vapor, as it might be termed, and 

 again sublimed in a glass ves.sel, to be again 

 used for the same purpose, ad injinitnm. Part 

 of the residue which remained in the cylin- 

 der, it being ivory black, was used for the re- 

 fining of sugar, and the remainder, being 

 ground into impalpable powder, was sold to 

 Day and JMartin to make their indescribable 

 polishing blacking ! Another part of the same 

 bone being burnt in the open air, the ashes 

 from which were nearly as white as flour, 

 were used, partly for refining gold, while the 

 remainder was mixed with flour by a baker, 

 to impart to the bread a peculiarly delicate 

 whiteness and to cause it to become light in 

 the baking; excellent too, in the makino- of 

 wfdilina; cakes. From auothor part of the 

 same bone were made buttons for decorating 

 the hunting coat of that same Colonel Kelly, 



