TH 



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K E G I S T E 11 . 



Vol. IV. 



OCTOBER, 1836 



No. 6. 



EDMUND RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



From llie Farmer's Series of the Library of Useful Kuoulcdgc. 

 BONES AS MANURE. 



Bones, alihough of comparatively late introduc- 

 tion as manure, have yet occupied so niucli of larm- 

 in<:: attention witljiu these few years, that we have 

 no liesitation in placing them at the head of" those 

 miscellaneous substances which are usually em- 

 ployed for that purpose. They have indeed been 

 used in some parts of" England for a long time, 

 and have been extensively imported from tlie Con- 

 tinent into the town of" Hull, where several ma- 

 chines have been erected either /or grinding them 

 into powder, or bruising them into small pieces ; 

 Avhich motles of application have been found so ad- 

 vantageous, that they have, within the last twenty 

 years, excited general attention, and are now in 

 almost universal use as the principal manure fin- 

 raising turnip crops on the calcareous soils in York- 

 shire and Lincolnshire. It is upon this description 

 of land that they are the most decidedly valuable, 

 and the testimony of some fiirmers of experience, 

 jjroves that to mix them witli a portion of" vegeta- 

 ble or coal ashes, is a profilable a[)plication for the 

 production of" turnips; as, by this method, the ve- 

 getation of the seed is quickened, and the young 

 );lant, getting rapidly into rough leaf, thus escapes 

 the fly. 



Long before the great advantage which maybe 

 derived f"rom ground or well-crushed bones \vas 

 generally known, many ])ersons were aware of 

 their lerlilizing properties. To render them avail- 

 able, liowever, the wasteful and injurious process 

 of reducing them into ashes by fire was then com- 

 monly resorted to ; by which, indeed, a certain de- 

 gree of benefit was imparted to land uj)on which 

 .sulpluite of lime or gypsum will have efi'ect, but 

 could not be so effectual, in point of nourishment, 

 as bone in an uncalcined state, because the oil and 

 other nutritive matler which it contains is thus dis- 

 sipated. In other instances, they were either re- 

 duced by lime, or laid at the bottom of the farm- 

 yard, and decomposed by the ellect of urine, and 

 in some cases were partially broken by the ham- 

 mer. In these moiles, however, great quantities 

 were wasted, which is now prevented by the im- 

 proved method of preparing them by machinery: 

 it is therefore useless to enter further into the de- 

 tails of practice which has become obsolete. 



When reduced to powder, the bones alone are 

 ground, being divested bj^ the process of boiling, 

 not only of every particle of flesh, but also of a 

 material porfion of" oil which is also extracted ; and 

 it is only in that state that they can be brought lo 

 the condition of fine powder. In this state, it is 

 only reasonable to suppose that they cannot be so 

 beneficial to the land as when fresh and unboiled ; 

 yet we find, by the report of" the Doncaster Asso- 

 ciation "on bone manure,"— to which we shall 

 presently reler — that they have been found more 

 effectual alter having passed through the manu- 

 factories. When not ground completely into pow- 

 der, they are, however, broken in the machines, 

 by cast-iron rollers, formed with deeply indented 

 rims, by which they are first partially 'bruised, and 



Vol. IV— U 



then falling down upon other sets of rollers, each 

 with the teeth more closely fixed, they are in this 

 manner reduced to various sizes, f"rom one inch to 

 half"an inch in thickness, and a considerable (juan- 

 tity of coarse dust is also procured by the process. 

 These bones are usually sold under the respective 

 designations of inch, three-quarters inch, hall-inch, 

 or dust ; but the greatest demand is for those of" the 

 half-inch size, which contain all the dust which 

 has been formed in crushing them. The "dust" is 

 collected in great measure by ridding the inch and 

 three-quarters inch bones. 



When the bones are not boiled, each pair of rol- 

 lers is furnished with a set of malleable iron scrap- 

 ers attached below, in order to clear the teeth of 

 any animal matter which may adhere to them, and 

 thus the oily substance contained in the bones is 

 saved*. As bone-mills have been now very ge- 

 nerally erected, there are few parts of the country 

 where the manure cannot be procured in a prepared 

 slate; but when the bones are only to be had raw, 

 and it is an object with the farmer to reduce them 

 to a small size, they can be easily broken to pieces 

 by his own laborers. Several fiirmers have in- 

 deed erected small machines with two cylinders of 

 cast-iron, with teeth, which lock into each other, 

 by which they are broken into small pieces. The 

 price at the mills varies, of course, according to 

 the trouble of preparation, the distance of carriage, 

 I'ov grinding, and the demand; but commonly 

 averages, for the dust, from 2.s. 6d. to 3s., and in 

 some late instances even 3s. 6d. have beed paid — 

 lor pieces, from 2s. to 2s. 3d., according lo size — 

 and Is. lOd. for rough bones, per imperial bushel. 

 No allowance appears lo be generally made by the 

 dealers on those which have gone through the pro- 

 cess of boiling. 



Tlie expense of bones purchased in the rough 

 state, and broken on the farm, is thus stated as an 

 actual charge incurred ])er acre — 



24 cwt. bones, prime cost - - £2 3 2 



Carriage of ditlo, 7 miles - - 7 



6i days, man breaking bones, at 



Is.'lOd. ------- 11 11 



3.Vdo. a girl spreading do. on the 

 'drills - ------- 2 11 



X3 5 



JExperiincnls. 



Their cfiTects will be best seen by the following 

 trials : 



On the estate of Garrowby, on the Yorkshire 

 Wolds, belonging to Sir Francis Wood, the crops 

 of turnips had dwindled to nothing, and the fill- 

 lows, though tolerably manured, were covered 

 only with conmion hemp, nettle, and other weeds, 

 instead of turnip plants ; but by the use of twelve 



* See the Prize Essays of the Highland Society, for 

 a detailed description, accompanied with plates of a 

 very complete mill for crnshing bones, elected hy Mr. 

 Anderson of Dundee. — X. S., vol. i. p. 301. Ibid, 

 p. 73. 



