56 ON MANURE. 



Bones, however, on account of their prolonged effect, 

 are by far the most valuable manure that can be de- 

 posited in a vine border. They should be buried in 

 the soil whole, and as fresh as possible. Every varie- 

 ty of size may be procured, from the smallest bone of 

 a fowl, to the largest bone of an ox. The small bones 

 will decompose in a few months, but the largest will 

 remain for twenty, thirty, and even fifty years, before 

 they are entirely decayed, while the intermediate-sized 

 ones, according to their respective kinds, will be con- 

 tinually decomposing in succession for a great number 

 of years, yielding thereby a constant supply of nutri- 

 ment of the most valuable description. It is worthy 

 of remark, also, that every bone, whether small or 

 large, after it has been deposited in the soil a few 

 weeks, will begin to yield, by the decomposition of the 

 gluten on its surface, a steady supply of nutritious 

 matter, and continue so to do, until it be resolved into 

 its constituent parts, and form part of the soil itself. 



Many results might be adduced, of experiments tried 

 at various times, to ascertain the value of entire bones 

 as manure to the roots of vines, all of which would 

 prove, that they yield, beyond all comparison, a more 

 permanent supply of nourishment than can be obtained 

 from any other substance used as manure. The 

 details of these would occupy too great a space ; those 

 of two, however, may perhaps be advantageously 

 mentioned. 



In the year 1826, several vines were planted against 

 a wall having a south aspect, in a border the soil of 

 which is a stiff clayey loam. In the following year, 

 a quantity of bones, not more than a bushel, the largest 

 of which was the blade bone of a calf, was digged into 

 the border at a distance of five feet from the wall. They 

 were deposited all together as a horizontal layer of six 

 inches in depth, the upper surface being twelve inches, 



