USE OF BONE MANURE. 99 



the phosphates are most readily exhausted; in bones 

 therefore we find just the manure for restoring them, 

 and with little expense. This has been already 

 tried in some parts of the country, and with most en- 

 couraging success. I would particularly recommend 

 farmers to experiment with bones dissolved in sul- 

 phuric acid. The dissolving of them is a simple busi- 

 ness, and can be easily shown on a small scale, by the 

 teacher to his class. He can do it, for instance, in a 

 teacup or tumbler, or on a plate or a flat stone. The 

 cheapness of this manure is a great recommendation. 

 Two bushels of bones would not certainly cost more 

 than $1*00; then say 50 lbs. of acid to dissolve them 

 would cost by the carboy, $1*50, making only $2*50 

 for a quantity quite sufficient for an acre, with half 

 the usual dressing farm-yard manure. It would be 

 worth almost as much as this, to cart the common ma 

 nure from the yard, to say nothing of its value. There 

 are few farms on which bones enough might not be 

 collected in the course of a year, to help out in this 

 way the manuring of several acres. 



Bones may not only be applied successfully to the 

 ordinary cultivated crops, but also to meadows and 

 pastures. In some of the older dairy districts, a few 

 bushels of bone dust per acre will at once restore 

 worn-out pastures. The reason is, that the milk and 

 cheese, which are in one form or another sold and car- 

 ried away, contain considerable quantities of phos- 

 phates in their ash. These are restored to the land 

 by bones. It is calculated by Prof. Johnston, that a 

 cow giving 20 quarts of milk per day, takes from the 

 soil about 2 lbs. of phosphate of lime or bone earth 

 in each week. There would thus be required three or 

 four lbs. of bones, to make good this loss. If it is 

 not made good in some way, the rich grasses after a 

 time cease to flourish; being succeeded by those which 

 require less phosphate of lime, and therefore do not 



