144 On Bones as a Manure. 



eighty bushels of rough bones per day ; and farm horses have so much 

 to do, in carrying on the operations of the farm, that they have work 

 enough, without being employed in crushing bones. It is better there- 

 fore, that this process should be undertaken by a separate profession. 



7. On the proper size of Bone Manure for quick profit. A deci- 

 ded preference is given to bones broken small, and they are frequently 

 reduced to powder of the size of saw-dust. Indeed, the more they 

 are divided the more powerful are their effects. But if it is desired 

 to keep the land in good heart, the size should be about half an inch. 



When the bones are broken to a small size like dust, twenty-five 

 bushels per statute acre are sufficient, but forty bushels are required, 

 if the size of the bones is from half an inch to an inch. 



8. On fermenting Bones. It can hardly be doubted, that fermen- 

 tation is necessary to a speedy benefit from bone manure, for when 

 unfermented, though laid on at the rate of even eighty bushels per 

 statute acre, they have at first little effect on the soil. Hence it is 

 that bones, though in consequence of their being boiled or stewed, and 

 passing through an oil or glue manufactory, have necessarily lost some 

 valuable parts of their substance, yet having been fermented, they are 

 preferable to those in a raw state *, the fibres of the turnips, or oif any 

 other plant, taking hold of them sooner, after the oleaginous part, 

 which impedes their decomposition, has been taken from them. It is 

 in consequence of their being heated, that bones are rather improved 

 in utility, by their being kept in a great body on board a ship, either 

 when imported from other countries, or conveyed at home from one 

 port to another. Bones however, in a raw state, are superior in point 

 of duration, to those which have undergone any manufacturing process. 



9. On the Advantages of Bone Manure, applied to arable land. 

 In the cultivation of arable land, bone manure is generally employed 

 for the turnip crop. 



This is productive of numerous advantages ; the use of this manure, 

 diminishes labour at the season of the year, when time is of the great- 

 est importance, for one waggon load, containing a hundred and twenty 

 bushels of small bones, fit for the drill, equals from forty to fifty cart 

 loads of fold manure. 



Its suitableness for the drill, when converted into dust, and its great 

 fertilizing properties, render it peculiarly valuable in those parts, where, 

 from the distance of towns, or large villages, it is impossible to pro- 

 cure manures of a heavier and more bulky description. It is evident, 

 that there can be no seeds of weeds, or larvae of insects in bone ma- 

 nure, which is generally the case in farm-yard dung. 



It is an immense advantage, (if bones are properly used), that a 

 severe drought will not prevent a crop of turnips, even in seasons 

 when all other manures will fail. A number of valuable animals are 

 thus preserved from perishing, and manure obtained for the succeed- 

 ing crops in the rotation. 



When bones are used, the farmer is but little troubled with the fly 

 or beetle, so injurious to turnips, for as soon as the plant reaches the 

 bones, they immediately get into the rough leaf, and no fly touches 



* Doncaster Report, p. 9 j also p, 22, 



