FARMERS' REGISTER— BONE MANURE. 



313 



not to pass untried. Those who wish to be better 

 satisfied of its utility can easily make the experi- 

 ment, by usin;:; it on a small temporary building — 

 or it may be tried by shingles put together for the 

 purpose, and then exposed to the fire. — Mail-Road 

 Journal, 



BONE MANURE. 



[Froralhc rroceediiu's of the Doncaster Asricullural Society of 

 Eiislauil.] 



The efficacy of bone on tillage, respecting which 

 some contrariety of opinion still exists in different 

 parts of the country, has been fully 'demonstrated 

 by the judicious course pursued by tlie Doncaster 

 Agricultural Association. A committee of that 

 body was appointed in 1828, to make inquiries and 

 report the result of them, on the use and advanta- 

 ges of bones, as a manure. And the method lliey 

 adopted, as described in the report of the commit- 

 tee, recently published, may serve as a model for 

 similar investigation. They prepared alist of que- 

 ries, embracing every point on which the inquiry 

 depended, which was submitted to the farmers 

 throughout the whole extent of country over which 

 the inquiry was to run, which was laid out into 

 districts, apportioned among the different mem- 

 bers of the committee, v/ho undertook to distribute 

 the queries and procure returns, and wlio were em- 

 powered to extend them as much farther as they 

 pleased. The committee was composed of Lord 

 Althorp, Mr. Duncomb, one of the members of 

 the county, Mr. V/ood, M. P. for Grimsby, and 

 about ten other gentlemen ; some of whom, as prac- 

 tical men, communicated tlieir own replies to the 

 queries, and thus was collected, what the commit- 

 tee characterise a.s " a valuable body of experimen- 

 tal evidence." 



The report, which is extremely well drawn up, 

 simple, perspicuous and methodical, is a conden- 

 sation of the several facts, ophiions and sugges- 

 tions, furnished by the correspondents of the com- 

 mittee, from whence principles are deduced, in a 

 very satisfactory manner. The fundamental max- 

 im of the committee is, that " experience is the 

 only guide, and theory and opinion useless." Near- 

 ly all the farmers are decidedl}' in fa\'or of this spe- 

 cies of manure, and although there is occasionally 

 some apparent conflict of ojjinion amongst them on 

 svdjordinate points, this discrepance is skilfully and 

 in almost every case, convincuigly traced to pecu- 

 liarities, which do not at all affect the general prin- 

 ciple, or impair the result at which the committee 

 lias arrived. 



The degree of utility to be derived from this kind 

 of manure, depends uix)n the different soils, which 

 vary not only in character, but on other particu- 

 lars, such as moisture and quality, and upon its 

 mode of application, as the particular stage of crop- 

 ])ing it applies to, at wliat period of the year, and 

 again whether raw, or after a process of manufac- 

 ture, in what quantity and what size, and whether 

 broadcast or drilled. A long continuance of expe- 

 riments, under the eye of judicious observers, can 

 alone afford a safe ground of conchision, as to tlie 

 efficacy of boning, and as to the proper n\ethods, 

 and " where a course of practice so long establish- 

 ed as the use of bones, has furnished such an amount 

 <)f experiments, all doubt" says the report, " may 

 be at once discarded." 



The returns, with only two exceptions, concur 



Vol. 1—40 



in stating the manure to be highly Valuilble, and 

 on light dry soils, superior to farm yard dung and 

 all other manures. Upon very thin sand land, its 

 value is not to be estimated. It is not only found 

 to benetit the particular crop to which it is appli- 

 ed, but extends through the whole course of crops, 

 and even in the succeeding courses, its effects are 

 visible in the improved quality of the land, and the 

 efficiency of a smaller quantity than would at first 

 have insured a crop. On dry lime stone, the re- 

 sults are equally favorable — on light loams it is 

 preferable to the ordinary dressing of farm yard 

 dung — in the heavy loams and clays the experi- 

 ments are unfavorable. It is laid down as a ne- 

 cessary qualification in a soil for bones, that it 

 should be dry. And the committee on this prin- 

 ciple, consider that the clay soils are too moist to 

 receive any considerable benefit from bone tillage. 

 Upon peat soils, previously laid dry, the advanta- 

 ges of bone manure are reported to be very strik- 

 ing ; two unfavorable results corroborate the 

 soundness of the principle just mentioned ; the peat 

 was moist. The effect of the manure on gravels is 

 differently stated in different reports, but the same 

 principle accounts for this conflict of opinion — a 

 gravelly soil may embrace every variety of tex- 

 ture and quality, from the light dry sand, to the 

 water-logged yellow clay, preserving in each the 

 necessary admixture of stones and grit. 



Sti'iking testimony is furnished as to the dura- 

 Idlity of this manure : one farmer says, " on a field, 

 part of which was boned 40 years ago, the crops 

 were visibly better in that part for 15 or 16 suc- 

 ceeding years than the remaining part, although 

 the land was all the same quality, and the part not 

 boned was manured with larm yard dung." Ano- 

 ther says, " about three acres of light sandy land 

 was boned with 150 bushels per acre by mistake, 

 and although it was as far back as 1814, the land 

 has never forgotten it, but is nearly half as good 

 again, as the other part farme<1 precisely in the 

 same way, with the exception of one dressing of 

 liones." A convincing proof of the utility of this 

 kind of tillage may be deduced from the fact, that 

 there is a rapidly increasing demand for bones. " In 

 no one return," observe the committee, " in an- 

 sv.er to the query in our circular, do you continue 

 to use them.' has the answer been in the negative; 

 the impression which is prevalent in our neighbor- 

 hood that he is not accounted a good farmer, who 

 does not use them, is echoed from the Wolds of 

 Lincolnshire." 



The most valuable part of the report, consists of 

 the practical details derived from the experiments 

 of the farmers, who have used bones, regarding 

 the time and manner of their application, — upon 

 which point some variety of opinion prevails, as 

 might be expected amongst the committee's cor- 

 respondents. 



Like Oilier kinds of manure, the proper effect of 

 bones on the soil, depends upon their undergoing 

 a certain degree of fermentation ; this principle was 

 discovered by some experiments of Mr. Horncas- 

 tle, of Hodsack, who found that boiled and stewed 

 bones v. ere preferable to raw. The committee ob- 

 serve the principles thus developed, naturally leads 

 us to another of great importance, which has been 

 elicited by the practice of intelligent farmers, and 

 like all principles developed by practice, the most 

 certain and satisfactory from its having proceeded 

 i'rom no theory previously formed; it is the accij- 



