1836] 



FARMER S' REGISTER. 



327 



clay, or good earth, per acre ; by which dressing, 

 the crops between liiiiow and fallow, excepting 

 clover, appear to have been increased one-fitth in 

 value. Others use forty bushels of bones, broken 

 from two to three inches, in a compost with five 

 loads of farm-yard manure, and a sufficient quan- 

 tity of earth, the eH'ect of which has been felt on 

 the wheat crop at the end of the four-course sys- 

 tem. Many also mix up dung, root, rape-dust, 

 and the ashes from weeds and house fires, with 

 the bones, by which great Iieat, and consequent 

 fermentation, is occasioned. 



The most general practice, however, is to form 

 the compost entirely of bones and yard muck, 

 mixed, in various proportions, with 



From 50 bushels of bones to 4 or 5 of dung. 

 20 do. 4 do. 



12 do. 8 do. 



This, if the heap be well covered, will no doubt 

 decompose the bones very rapidly ; and one per- 

 son states, "that he has used as much as 35 bush- 

 els ot bone dust, per acre, without manure, in the 

 same field where he laid six loads of fold manure, 

 and ten bushels of bone dust ; but the turnips on 

 the part manured with bone dust alone were not 

 so good as those on the part manured with the 

 compost and the succeeding crops were still worse 

 in comparison." 



As the great amount of bones now actually 

 consumed as manure, besides the quantities ap- 

 plied to other purposes, may reasonably excite an 

 apprehension that the still increasing dem.and will 

 soon exceed the supply and consequently raise the 

 price, a correspondent of the "Quarterly Journal 

 of Agriculture,"* has suggested the following 

 economical method of employing them, which he 

 has used for the two last years, and by which he 

 states that he has obtained heavy crops of turnips. 



He forms a compost, as the manure for one im- 

 perial acre, of 8 bushels of coarse bone-dust, with 

 no less than double that quantity of coal-ashes, 

 which may be generally procured for about 5s. per 

 ton. The ashes should be carefully collected in 

 dry weather and placed under cover, in order that 

 they may be kept free of moisture ; or, if that be 

 difficult, they may be strewed with a dusting of 

 quick-lime : after which they are to be riddled as 

 small as the dust itself, for otherwise, if sown with 

 a drilling-machine, they will not pass easily 

 through the hopper. The bones are then mixed 

 with the ashes ; the mass ferments, and evolves a 

 considerable degree of heat, when they soon be- 

 come fit for use. 



Turnips raised with this compost, he affirms to 

 have always possessed the same characters of a 

 close crop, firm root, and hardiness to resist the 

 rigors of winter, that turnips raised with bone-dust 

 alone evince ; in proof of which, he has sold them 

 for £7 per acre, to be eaten off by sheep. He, 

 however, supposes that it is the bone-dust alone 

 which secures to the crop whatever nourishment 

 may be imparted to it at the future stages of its 

 growth, in which he is doubtless correct; but in 

 imagining that he has thus discovered a more eco- 

 nomical mode of their application in their effect 

 upon succeeding crops, we imagine that his further 

 experience will show him that he has been de- 

 ceived; for although the fermentation of the 



* N. S. Vol. ii. No. 20. p. 258. 



bones, occasioned by the application of the ashes, 

 may increase their power upon the actual crop, it 

 will be proportionahly diminished in those which 

 liillow, and we think that the instances which we 

 have already stated must convince practical men 

 thatthe durability ot theirinfluence upon thesoil de- 

 pends on the quantity in which they are applied. 



j^ppUcation. 



Independently of the decided fertilizing proper- 

 ties of bones, when applied to dry and light soils, 

 they have the great advantage of being procura- 

 ble at a small expense of carriage, which dimin- 

 ishes the labor of teams to a great extent; for one 

 wagon-load of 100 bushels, broken small, will in 

 most cases be found equal to 40 cart-loads of yard 

 manure. They are also capable of being pre- 

 served during a long time, when kept dry, with- 

 out incurring damage, and thus may be stored up 

 during the winter season, when farm business is 

 not pressing; added to which, they leave the land 

 ficcr from, weeds than when it is manured with 

 dung. This, and their suitableness to the drill 

 husbandry, renders them peculiarly adapted to the 

 cultivation of turnips — to which, indeed, they 

 have been the most universally applied ; and we 

 need not remind our readers, that on the success 

 of that crop generally depends those of the whole 

 succeeding course. The instances are also nume- 

 rous, upon all soils, of turnips being destro3-cd by 

 the f^y when sown in drills, having had the manure 

 placed directly under them ; when turnips sown ia 

 the same field, and on the same day, with bone- 

 dust, have entirely escaped their ravages. Their 

 value to the holders of light soils, in thus enabling 

 them to procure the certain means of improving 

 the returns from their land, by this increase of 

 their quantity of nutritive manure, may therefore 

 be considered inappreciable. It has been stated 

 as the comparative result of some experiments, 

 that bone-dust acts in the cultivation of grain, as 

 compared to the best stable manure, in the follow- 

 ing proportions : — namely. 



In respect to the quality of the corn, as 7 to 5. 



In respect to the quantity, as 5 to 4. 



In respect to the durability of its effects on the 

 soil, as 3 to 2.* 



We cannot indeed agree altogether in this esti- 

 mate ot its powers, but it requires no further ar- 

 guments to press its application upon the atten- 

 tion of every farmer, who is in possession of ground 

 to which it is suitable. We shall, therefore, only 

 add the following summary of the rules for its ap- 

 plication, as recommended by the members of the 

 Doncaster Agricultural Association, from which it 

 appears-^ 



That on dry sands, limestone, chalk, light 

 loams, and peat, bones are a very highly valuable 

 manure. 



That they may be applied to grass with great 

 good effect. 



That on arable lands, they may be laid on fal- 

 low for turnips, or used for any of the subsequent 

 crops. 



That the best method of using them, when 

 broad-cast, is previously to mix them up in a com- 

 post with earth, dung, or other manures, and let 

 them lie to ferment. 



' Repertory of Inventions, No. 86. 



