IV.] 



BONE MANURES 



particles offered to the solvent action of the soil water ; 

 and it is the appreciation of this fact, and the rise of 

 other phosphatic manures like basic slag, which have 

 caused the decline in recent years of the popularity of 



bone meal. It was, however, bones in their even coarser 

 form — merely roughly broken, sometimes by hand on 

 the farm — which built up the fertility of much English 

 land, as, for instance, the famous dairy pastures of 

 Cheshire, which were made during the early years 



