336 



Hints for maMng a Manure. — Bone Dust. 



Vol. VII. 



room for another • making.'' When the ma- 

 terial is thrown out of the pit, it will be al- 

 ways necessary and proper to cover it en- 

 tirely over with weeds, or some kind of 

 refuse ; but the more vegetable matter, the 

 better. This matter, however, is not one 

 for supposition ; it has been carried into 

 effect, and could not be kept a secret; for 

 the process drew wondering spectators, from 

 its perfuming the air with that rich odor 

 which would make a knowing agriculturist 

 look six months before him, and say to him- 

 self, — This will come to something; if crops 

 don't grow after the application of this ma- 

 nure * * *. I have heard of, and seen 

 essays which would tell you what might be 

 done; but here is a matter on which you 

 may exercise nearly all your senses — you 

 can see it, touch it — most certainly smell it; 

 and, at any stage of the process, you may 

 readily hear it. I will not detain you with 

 the obstacles I had to encounter in carrying 

 tint great matter into effect, being laughed 

 at by some, and ridiculed by others. But, 

 before concluding, just observe (that this 

 manure may have fair play,) your ground 

 must be first well drained — different ma- 

 nures are adapted to different soils and dif- 

 ferent plants — and that a long continuation 

 of the same manure to the same soil is often 

 injudicious. I had almost forgotten to re- 

 mark, that I have known many farmers to 

 draw manure, at a dear rate, from towns, 

 who were allowing much liquid manure, for 

 want of a very trifling arrangement on their 

 premises, to ' waste its richness on the desert 

 air.' This is a subject which demands your 

 early and attentive consideration ; and I 

 would warn you not to be too long about it, 

 as one farmer of this parish has certainly 

 done, who said he had been thinking about 

 making a tank for nine or ten years, but 

 could never get time. If this humble de- 

 scription of manure should happen to obtain 

 the premium, it may be handed to your sec- 

 retary, who will, if necessary, tell the name 

 of the writer, who has adopted, as his motto, 

 "Keep your eyes open." 



From the Farmer's Register. 

 Bone Dust. 



Sandy-spring, Mil., Third mo., 1843. 



To the Em tor, — In my last I promised to 

 furnish an account of further experiments 

 in the use of bone manure, and have accord- 

 ingly seated myself to fulfil my promise. 



Owing to the tardiness with which the 

 spring opens, an experiment that I have now 

 in progress, of applying it in the fall as a 

 top-dressing for wheat, is not sufficiently de- 



veloped to warrant any conclusive deduc- 

 tions in its favour; but, from one tried last 

 year, I am inclined to the opinion that it is 

 a most powerful stimulant when applied in 

 the spring. In my wheat ground there was 

 a miserable white flint knoll, upon which 

 the sowing of 20 bushels per acre, failed to 

 more than vegetate the plant; consequently, 

 in the spring it was a perfect eye-sore. I 

 doubled the quantity, making it at the rate 

 of 40 bushels. The wheat soon outstripped 

 that which surrounded it; and it is now better 

 set with clover than any portion of the field. 

 It is my intention to try another experiment 

 of the same kind this spring, although, to 

 insure its permanency, I would prefer sow- 

 ing it in the fall, and, by a light harrowing, 

 incorporating it with the surface. 



At the chemical laboratory in Baltimore, 

 bone dust can be purchased at fifty-two and 

 a half cents a bushel, well secured in two- 

 bushel bags, and weighing 60 pounds to the 

 bushel. It is easy, therefore, to calculate 

 what it will cost on our farms. 



It was with grief that a paragraph in a 

 newspaper lately met my eye, announcing 

 the fact, that a large quantity of bone was 

 exported from one of our northern cities to 

 England, where its value is known, one of 

 whose writers, Johnston, in his Agricultural 

 Chemistry, analyzes a ton of dry bones, and 

 gives the following as the result. 



"Dry bones contain about two-thirds of 

 their weight of earthy matter, the other 

 third consisting chiefly of animal matter, 

 resembling glue. Thus a ton of bone dust 

 will contain 



Animal matter, - ■ 

 Phosphate of lime, 

 Carbonate of lime, 



- - 746 lbs. 



- - 1245 " 



- - 249 " 



2240 lbs. 



And again, " The farmer now rejoices in 

 having in one ton of bone an equivalent to 

 14 tons of barn-yard manure." While such 

 is their knowledge and belief, need we won- 

 der that our -bones serve to enrich a foreign 

 soil ? My object, and the only one I have 

 in view, is to urge agriculturists to experi- 

 ment with this valuable manure, feeling well 

 assured that it will be followed by extensive 

 use, and that ere long, every city and town 

 will have within its limits an establishment 

 for grinding, instead of leaving them to 

 bleach and waste away upon their com- 

 mons. 



Richard T. Bentley. 



Take things always by their smooth 

 mndle. 



