MANURES. THEIR SOURCES AND PREPARATION-. 55 



dollars, at wholesale, in the cities, and containing one hun- 

 dred and sixty pounds, will dissolve three hundred to four 

 hundred and eighty pounds of bones. The bones should 

 be previously ground or finely broken. Put about sixty 

 pounds of bone-dust or phosphatic guano in a tub, and add 

 water enough to wet the mass, say about 40 Ibs. See that 

 it is well moistened. Add 20 Ibs. of sulphuric acid, which 

 is usually enough, and briskly stir the mass. If, after 

 standing a day or two the bones are not sufficiently dis- 

 solved, add more acid and water, pouring it on gradually, 

 and after a little the bones will entirely dissolve and form 

 a pasty mass with the acid and water. When the mass is 

 dried, it will assume the appearance of a granulated pow- 

 der, and it is then fit for use. It may also be used diluted 

 with thirty times its bulk of water as a liquid manure, 

 but it is more convenient to mix it with saw-dust, woods 

 earth, or fine charcoal, and apply it dry. Never mix a 

 superphosphate with lime, ashes, or any alkali, for by so 

 doing it is converted again into a phosphate, and your 

 labor and sulphuric acid are lost. One cwt. of bones with, 

 say half the amount of sulphuric acid, will be enough for 

 an acre. 



The acid has converted the bones into a superphosphate 

 of lime, which is very soluble, and is readily taken up by 

 the plant. This is the most valuable of all manures for 

 the turnip, and the quantity needed for the acre is so lit- 

 tle that the expense is less than that of almost any other 

 application. 



The addition of guano renders it still more valuable. 

 It may be used three days after its preparation, but im- 

 proves if kept longer. Fifteen bushels of compost may 

 be prepared from If bushels of bones and the absorbents 

 required ; and two bushels of this applied to an acre will, for 

 the present, equal in effect 16 bushels of half-inch bones. 

 (Lindley.) If bones are coarsely broken and mixed with 

 hot stable dung in the formation of a hot-bed, they will 



