

3}? 





.^*^ 



Vol. XXI, Sbcosd Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., APRIL, 1860. 



No. 4. 



PKOF, LEE TEIES TO BE CSITICAL. 



OiTE old friend Dr. Daniel Lee, now editor of 

 the iigricultaral dejjartinent of the Southern Field 

 and Fireside^ pubhshed at Augusta, Ga,, takes 

 exceptiou to two of our statements iu the leading 

 article in the February number of the Genesee 

 Farmer^ on " Bones as a Fertilizer," 



The Professor prefaces his criticism with some 

 coinplimentary allusions to our connection with 

 ** Messrs. Laweb and Gilbeex, who have ti-ied 

 njore agricultural exj^eriments to develop the true 

 principles of the science than any other men living," 

 *tc., for the purpose of showing, as he says, " that 

 our (his) critical remarks may not seem far-fetched 

 and out of place." 



The first of the two statements which the Pro- 

 fessor deems erroneous is stated as follows: 



"The Oeneme Farmer srjs: 'Dry bones contain, 

 in one hundred lbs., about tifty lbs. of phosphate of 

 lime, and gelatine eqn;il to about five lbs. of ammo- 

 nia.' Hftth of these statements are too low, and 

 make the value of bones for agricultural purposes 

 less than it really is." 



To prove this, Dr. Lee quotes an analysis of the 

 i bones of a cow, made by the late Prof. Joms'STON, 

 showing tiiat they contained 58^ per cent, of phos- 

 phate of liine and magnesia, and gelatine equal to 

 6^^ per cent, of ammonia. 



We will concede the correctness of this analysis. 

 But our friend the Professor ought to know that 

 Odiies vary considerably in their composition. Dr. 

 Lyox Playfahj says: "The composition of bone 

 varies very much according to the age and character 

 of the animal, generally containing less earthy 

 matter when the animal is young, and increasing iu 

 Iquantity as it grows older." Sciiregek states that 

 'the bones of a child contain one-half; those of an 

 adult, four-fifths; and those of an old person, 

 seven-eighths of this earthy matter — principally 

 phosphates. According to Berzelius, the bones of 

 a man contain 52 per cent, of phosphate of lime 

 J and phosphate of magnesia; those of an ox^ 5Ti. 

 Dr. TuoMPsox found 50.6 per cent, in the ileum of 



a sheep ; 45.2 in the ileum of an ox ; and 5^.1 in 

 the vertebrae of a haddock. Valentin found, 41, 

 49 and 53 per cent, in different bones of the human 

 frame. Cheveeul found 50 per cent, of phosphates 

 in the skull of a codfish ; DuMEsa, 55 in the bones 

 of a pike ; and Marohaud, only 14 per cent, in the 

 bones of a squalus peregrinus. Foueceot and 

 Vacouelin found 39 per cent, of phosphates in ox 

 bones. 



We quote these analyses of bones by eminent 

 chemists, simply to show that they are by no means 

 uniform in composition. Prof. Johnston, himself, 

 distinctly says : " The quantity of inorganic matter 

 contained in bones is not constant. It is less in the 

 young than in the full-grown animal,- -less in the 

 spongy than in the compact or more solid bones — 

 and less in those of some animals than in those of 

 others." In a table showing the composition of 

 various fertilizers, he puts down bones as containing 

 "40 to 60 per cent, of ash ;" say 36 to 54 per cent, 

 of phosphates. 



We said that " dry bones contain, in one hundred 

 lbs., about fifty lbs. of phosphate of lime." Dr. 

 Lee says this is too low an estimate, because Prof. 

 Johnston found 58 J- per cent, of phosphate of lime 

 and phosphate of magnesia in the bones of a cow ; 

 forgetting that we were speaking of bones in the 

 aggregate, and not of any single specimen. We 

 Jcnmc that our estimate is not too low,, taking the 

 average run of bones. Indeed, it will be difficult 

 to find in market a lot of bones that come up to 

 our estimate. Dr. Voklcrer, chemist ta the Koyal 

 Agricultural Society of England, gives anal^'ses of 

 nine samples of bone-dust, which fully bear out the 

 last assertion. The quantity of phosphate of lime 

 and magnesia in one hundred lbs. of these nine 

 different samples, was : 42f , 49i, 48i, 48i, 52, 4Ti, 

 44, 84^, 45|. 



One of these exceeds our estimate by two per 

 cent. ; all the others fall below it. Ihe average of 

 the whole is a fraction less, than 46; per cent. 



The quantity of ammoiujj, was determined in 



