AUXILIARY a:n^d exceptio:n^al makures. 85 



For turnip and other root crops, as much as three to 

 five hundred pounds per acre of Peruvian guano are often 

 beneficially used on strong land without other manure. 

 Peruvian guano is too stimulating when applied in large 

 quantities to late sown turnips, promoting an excessive 

 luxuriance of leaf, and preventing the formiition of bulb. 

 In such cases, phosphatic manures will yield better crops 

 at less ex2)ense. It is applied generally to the root crops 

 by sowing broadcast at their seed-time. 



Beans and potatoes also benefit by guano, but on most 

 soils it does not possess the power of sustaining the 

 healthy growth of these plants without something else in 

 addition. 



Bones owe their value as a fertilizer partly to the phos- 

 phoric acid which they contain, and in a less degree to 

 the combined nitrogenous matter which they contain. 

 They are used as manures either in the form of (1) bone- 

 dust, (2) as bone-ash, or (3) after treatment with sulphuric 

 acid. 



(1.) Bone dust, or bone-meal as it is sometimes term- 

 ed, is obtained by crushing or grinding the bones to a 

 kind of coarse powder. The finer the state of division, 

 the more rapid is the action of the manure, and the 

 coarser the particles, the slower its effect. 



Steaming the bones previous to grinding them, dissolves 

 out about two-thirds of the gelatine, and occasions a loss 

 of nitrogen ; but they are then easily reduced to a very 

 fine powder, and are thus rendered more effective as a 

 manure. 



When bone-dust is prepared from bones that have not 

 been steamed, it is best applied mixed with earth, or some 

 other substance, and fermented. Wet sand, sawdust, 

 stable-droppmgs, or any substance that will induce fer- 

 mentation, may be usefully employed for this purpose. 



