MANURES. 41 



of sowing il on the leaves, requires that its application should 

 be deferred till they have become partially developed. For 

 corn, potatoes, turiirp , \r., it is usually put in with the 

 seed, or sprinkled upon them after the first hoeing. 



From its great effect on the clovers, increasing them 

 sometimes to twice, and in rare instances, to thrice the qan- 

 tity produced without it, it is manifest that it is the most 

 profitable manure which can be used, as it can be generally 

 procured by farmers at from $3 to $6 per ton. Yet it should 

 be fully understood, that like lime and ashes, it furnishes 

 only a part of the food of plants ; and like them too, the 

 addition of vegetable and animal manures is indispensable 

 to secure permanent fertility. 



Extensive sections of this and other countries, particularly 

 in Great Britain, apparently derive no benefit from the appli- 

 cation of gypsum. This failure has been variously ascribed 

 to there being already enough in the soil ; or to the presence 

 of a marine atmosphere. Its great usefulness however, on 

 many parts of our Atlantic coast, would seem to require 

 some other explanation than the last as the .cause of its 

 inefficiency. Experiment alone can determine the circum- 

 stances which will justify its application, and to this test 

 should not only this, but all other practices of the farmer be 

 rigidly subjected. 



BONES. 



About 33 per cent, of fresh bone, consists of animal mat. 

 ter, (oil, gelatine, &c;) from 53 to 56 per cent, of phosphate 

 of lime and the remainder is principally carbonate of lime, 

 soda and magnesia. There is no part of the bone that is 

 not useful to vegetation ; it is especially so to the various 

 kinds of grain, to potatoes, turneps, the clovers, peas and 

 beans. The bones should be crushed or ground, and then 

 drilled in with the seed, or scattered broadcast, at the rate of 

 25 bushels per acre. They may be repeated in less quanti- 

 ties every 4 or 5 years, or till the soil ceases to be improved 

 by them, when they should be withheld till additional crop- 

 ping shall have so far exhausted them as to justify a further 

 supply. 



Bones are generally boiled before using for manure to 

 extract the oil and glue. This does not lessen their value 

 for agricultural purposes, beyond the diminution of their 

 weight, while it hastens their action. They are sometimes 

 burned, which drives off all the organic matter, leaving only 



