324 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 6 



Respecting Iheir durability, it has been affirmed, 

 that the efl'ect will not be increased if they be hiid 

 on to great amount; for the same produce has been 

 obtained from tlie comparative application ot 50 

 and 100 bushels; and an experiment has been 

 tried by varying the quantity on dirt'crent ridges of 

 a large extent of ground under turnips, at the rate 

 of 28, 40, and larger quaniities alternately, with- 

 out creaiing any visible difference in the crop*. 

 This, however, may be perfectly correct, so far as 

 regards one or two crops, for it has been found that, 

 Avhen used in large quantities, they have rendered 

 the land extraordinarily productive during a great 

 length of time, of wliich we llnd the following in- 

 stances in the IJoncaster Report: 



1. On a field, part of which was boned forty 

 years ago, the crops were, on that part, during fif- 

 teen or sixteen succeeding years, visibly better 

 than the remainder, although the land was all of 

 the same qualitj', and the [tart not boned was ma- 

 nured with liirm-yard dung. 



2. In another case, about three acres of light, 

 sandy land were dressed, in 1S14, with 150 bushels 

 of bones per acre; since which time the land is 

 said to have never forgotten it, but is nearlj^ as 

 good again as (he other part, farmed precisely in 

 the same way, with the exception of the one ap- 

 plication of bonesf. 



We learn, also, from experiments at Kew, that 

 although they yield a certain supply of" nourish- 

 ment to plants the moment they are capable of re- 

 ceiving it, yet that is done so gradually as to fur- 

 nish only a regular and moderate supply: reason- 

 ing upon which, it is to be presumed, that as a large 

 quantity does not produce the effect of Ibrcing a crop 

 in proportion to the amount supplied, neither can it 

 be so soon exhausted by the gradual consumption of 

 the smaller quantity. This ap|ilication may there- 

 fore be perfectly consistent with good husbandry, 

 if applied to any amount, however large ; though, 

 as regards the farmer's purse, the expenditure of 

 the outlay is a different question. The extent of 

 their fertilizing quality is greater upon grass-land, 

 under cattle, than upon arable. Valuers estimate 

 the allowance to a quitting tenant by supposing 

 the effect of bones upon tillage and meadow- 

 ground to be exhausted within four years; but on 

 grass-land depastured it is considered to last during 

 eight. f 



Expei^ience seems to be in fiivor of laying the 

 manure in drills, especially when applieil to tur- 

 nips, although the superiority of the broad-cast 



*Quart. Journal of Agric, N. S., vol. ii. p. 108. 



t About sixty years ago, a farmer is also said to have 

 obtained a forty-years' lease of a tract of poor land, in 

 a high situation near Rochdale, in Lancashire, on which, 

 after fencing and draining it, he erected a bone-mill, 

 and be^-an manuring the ground at the rate of 100 to 

 130 bushels of bones and iliist per acre. The conse- 

 quence of which was, that in a few years he let off 

 more land than paid the rent of the whole, and retained 

 a large farm in his own hand. The Correspondent of 

 the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, from whom these 

 details are taken, says "tliat one acre would summer a 

 covv of large size, and that some fields were cropped 

 With oats ten or filteen years in succession; yet that it 

 IS surprising to see the herbage which the "land still 

 produces, both as to quantity and quality, near one-half 

 being white and marl clover. 



t Report of the Committee of the Doncastcr Agri- 

 cultural Association, on bone-manure, p. 14. " 



practice is maintained by some very intelligent 

 farmers, who hold — that the turnip plant receives 

 its support principally from the fibres which it 

 throws out sideways, to a much greater length 

 than people will believe, and derives more nour- 

 ishment fi'om them than the tap-root ; and that the 

 bones being dispersed, the fibres are more likely 

 to meet with them than when they are accunm- 

 lated round a tap-root, and that method must be 

 the best which occasions the greater quantity of 

 nourishment to be conveyed to the body of the tur- 

 nip. In drilling the bones, there is also a difficul- 

 ty found in the after-ploughing, of mixing them 

 with the soil; arvd ahhougli this may be in some 

 measure obviated by cross- ploughing the ridges, 

 yet that portion of the land on which the manure 

 is thus laid receives more than an equal degree of 

 benefit. A third mode is hovi^ever acted upon by 

 others, who sow them broad-cast, and gather (hem 

 into ridges with a mould-plough. 



The time for laying them upon the land, when 

 applied to grass, whether natural or artificial, is 

 generally recommended to be earlj^ in the spring ; 

 but if upon meadow, the growth of which has 

 been led off, then the moment the cattle are re- 

 moved. Experience, however, varies upon this 

 point ; because it has been found to depend ma- 

 terially upon the season and the state ol" the land, 

 which, if wet, will be more benefited by delaying 

 the operaiion until the weather becomes warm 

 and the ground dry. 



When applied in the drills of arable land, they 

 are of course deposited along the seed ; but when 

 spread broad-cast, then they are not uncommonly 

 either harrowed in immediately previous to the 

 sowing, or with the last ploughing ; though, when 

 used in a fresh state, without having been sub- 

 jected to process of manufacture, they should al- 

 wa3's be laid in sufficiently long before the sow- 

 ing, to allow them time to ferment, or they will 

 not take immediate effect upon the rising crop.* 



The soils to which they are best adapted are. thosR 

 of a light and warm nature ; for on wet and cold 

 grounds they have rarely been found to produce 

 any sensible benefit. 'I'heir power of" contributinj.'' 

 to lighten strong land, by their mechanical actioi. 

 upon the soil, and thus rendering it less adhesive 

 has indeed been vaunted, and, if laid on a very 

 large amount, there can be no doubt that the bones, 

 in pieces, would have some such efiect; but the 

 smallne.?s of the quantity in which they are usual- 

 ly applied renders their force for that purpose quite 

 insignificant. 



On heavy loams and clays, the accounts of their 

 operation have been almost invariably unfavora- 

 ble; and it may bo laid down as a necessary quali- 

 fication in a soil fit for the application ot" bones, 

 that it should be dry. This, indeed, has been 

 contradicted by experiments stated in the Doncas- 

 ter Report, upon what is described as a wet sand 

 soil, with an irony-colored subsoil, upon which two 

 quarters per acre were drilled, and produced an ex- 

 cellent crop, when manure hail been jireviously 

 tried without effect. This, however, having oc- 

 curred in the years lS2(i and 1827. which were 

 unusually dry, may serve to explain the lact, with- 

 out alli'cling the principle that bone manure is not 

 generally l)eneficial to clay lands. 



The same Iveport states, ")/;)on very thin sandy 



* Doncastcr Report, p. 16. 



