340 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 GROWTH OF A TREE— LARGE HOG. 



Mr. Editor: — A year ago last April, Capl. 

 Thomas Derby, of this place, stuck into the 

 ground back of his house a small limb cut from a 

 "Balm of Gilead" tree. It took root and grew 

 some three feet last season, and about the first of 

 June last, it seemed to be running up so very fast, 

 he concluded to measure, and thus know precisely 

 how far it grew withm a specific time. At the 

 end of the seven weeks next succeeding his first 

 measurement, it stood forty-nine inches higher 

 than it did at that time; showing a growth of just 

 one inch per day for forty-nine successive days; and 

 one of the leaves near the top measured nine and 

 three-quarters, by ten and a half inches. Who 

 can beat that 1 



Now, let us cross the way from Mr. D.'s, some 

 forty rods, to the hog-pen of Warren Thayer, Esq. 

 Don't start, friend ! that isn't one of Barnum's 

 young elephants, but a bona fida pig, that was 

 taken from a drove last winter, weighing at that 

 time, 112 lbs., but has stretched himself, Balm-of- 

 Gilead-like, till he measures now, from the root of 

 his tail lo the end of his snout, seveii feet, three 

 inches, and girths five feet, ten inches. He may 

 not weigh, perhaps, more than four cwt., as he is 

 not fat, but growing finely. 



But enough has been said to show that we pro- 

 duce something here besides brogans. If you are 

 incredulous, — '■'come and see." 



Yours, truly, Senrab. 



Pond Plain, S. Weymouth, Mass., Sept., 1851. 



STEAMING BONES. 



Annlylical Laboratory, Yale, College, \ 

 New Haven, Conn., June 30, 1851. 5 



Editors Cultivator: — I have written so much 

 on this single topic of bones, that some of my rea- 

 ders may think it worn threadbare. But while I 

 see the great apathy which still prevails among 

 farmers as to their use, when I consider the enor- 

 mous waste of them which still occurs in almost 

 every district of our country, I feel that I have not 

 said and cannot say too much about them. 



It must be acknowledged that there are practical 

 difficulties of some consequence, in the employ- 

 ment of bones as a manure on ordinary farms. If 

 applied whole the quantity required to produce 

 much effect is very great, not less than from 50 to 

 80 bushels per acre. Crushing or cracking them 

 by hand is a very slow and imperfect process, which 

 soon leads to discouragement if the collection be 

 large. Mills for grinding bones are as yet few, 

 and bone dust as an article of trade is chiefly con- 

 fined to the large towns, and must be transported 

 often to a great distance. The easiest way to bring 

 bones into a proper sphere for application to the 

 land, and at the same time the most effective and 

 economical method, is to dissolve them in sulphuric 

 This is a simple process enough, but I know 



acid. 



from frequent experience that it appears very for- 

 midable to the farmer who is not accustomed to 

 novelties. He is afraid of the strong acid; perhaps 

 has some difficulty in finding it at all in his neigh- 

 borhood, and is often finally discouraged into let- 

 ting the whole matter stop by one or "two failures 

 in his first attempts. No description of a process 

 can avoid every possible source of error, and un- 

 practiced manipulators are pretty sure to make 



some mistakes, when they meddle with chemicals 

 for the first time. Those who have more faith and 

 perseverance do not give up at the first ill success, 

 but try again, and always reap a reward for their 

 good courage. Such however are comparatively 

 few, and the number of those who shrink from any 

 effort whatever is greatest of all. 



In view of the dread which farmers have of this 

 method, I take up for the subject of the present let- 

 ter the process of dissolving bones by steaming, 

 which has lately excited much attention in Great 

 Britain. This process has already been mentioned 

 in your columns on one or two occasions, but I 

 have thought that a more extended notice might 

 possess a considerable degree of interest. I have 

 at various times within the past year or two re- 

 ceived letters from Scotch and English friends 

 speaking highly of steamed bones, and the subject 

 has also been fully discussed by the agricultural 

 papers. 



In the Farmer's Guide, just published by the 

 Messrs. Scott of New York, a full description is 

 given of the process, with plates of Mr. Blackhall's 

 apparatus. I will here mention the general prin- 

 ciples of his plan. Any old boiler of small size 

 will answer for this purpose. It is fitted so that 

 a considerable charge of bones may be placed on a 

 grating in its upper part, and there be exposed to 

 the full action of the steam. The lower part of the 

 boiler is filled with water, and then all that is 

 needed is a fiie, and a safety valve to make sure 

 that the pressure of steam does not become so great 

 as to endanger the safety of the boiler. 



If the charge is so introduced in the morning, 

 steam is kept up through the day, and the boiler 

 left to cool off at night. On the succeeding morn- 

 ing the bones are taken out, and are found to be so 

 altered and softened as to be readily crushed to a 

 fine paste or powder. AU coherence is destroyed, 

 and the result of the process is thus a mass of ex- 

 tremely minute particles. 



This is the same object which is obtained by 

 grinding in a bone mill, or by dissolving with sul- 

 phuric acid. In the latter case there are also cer- 

 tain highly important chemical changes, but still 

 the state of minute division to which the bone is 

 reduced, is one of the chief points gained. This 

 division into small particles is of advantage, for 

 the reason that such particles are more readily 

 dissolved and decomposed into the soil, and there- 

 fore more immediately and fully available to the 

 plant. This consideration of quick action is high- 

 ly important in ihe application of manui-es. A 

 small quantity of a soluble or finely divided fertili- 

 zer will produce a better effect than many times 

 the amount of some substance equally rich in com- 

 position, but imperfectly soluble, or in large hard 

 lumps. 



For this reason steamed bones have been found 

 highly advantageous as a special manure, a compar- 

 atively small quantity answering the desired purpose 

 in hastening and augmenting the growth of the 

 crop. Eight or ten bushels per acre have been 

 found to produce a most remarkable effect, far 

 more than equivolent to a heavy dressing with the 

 ordinary farm-yard manures. In fact it is scarcely 

 necessary that I should enlarge upon their pro- 

 perties in this respect, for even the most careless 

 reader on agricultural subjects must by this time 

 have learned, that any form of soluble phosphates 

 constitutes an exceedingly concentrated and pow- 



