196 [Assembly 



soda, the quantity as you will perceive, is much too small and 

 should therefore receive the |)romised increase from the decom- 

 posed muck. 



Tfo. 11. Of this your soil has none, and hence the propriety 

 of using plaster of Paris, sulphate of soda, and any other sul- 

 phates which can be had cheaply ; the next paragraph will show 

 how this substance may be had. 



JYo. 12. This substance, phosphoric acid, is one of the most 

 valuable the soil can contain and next to the salts of ammonia, 

 should receive our attention. Your soil is deficient of it alto- 

 gether. Combined with lime, phosphoric acid forms phosphate 

 of iivie, which through plants supplies the materials to animals 

 for forming their bones, and it also enters largely into the com- 

 position of milk ; without its addition your soil would not pay 

 as a dairy /arm; with it, the results might be different. Phos- 

 phate of lime exists largely in bones, and bone dust is much 

 used as a manure, but they decay but slowly in the soil if applied 

 in the raw state, and the cost of grinding is very considerable. 

 A much better method is to dissolve rough bones in a mixture 

 of three parts water, to one part sulphuric acid and throw the 

 fluid evenly through the compost heaps ; by treating bones with 

 sulphuric acid, the phosphate of lime, which is insoluble in water, 

 is changed into the super-phosphate of limey which is soluble, and 

 hence is immediately ready for the use of growing plants ; the 

 sulphuric acid used combines with part of the lime, and the re- 

 sultant sulphate of lime although not soluble in water, is soluble 

 when an excess of sulphuric acid is present, and thus becomes 

 thoroughly divided through the compost ; this plan is peculiar- 

 ly adapted to your soil as the sulphuric acid is as necessary as 

 the phosphoric, both being absent. 



The refuse burnt bones of the sugar refiners, if treated with 

 sulphuric acid, will supply the phosphate of lime. 



I have just finished the analysis of a mineral phosphate of 

 lime found in New-Jersey, and which promises a cheaper supply 

 of this article to farmers — it is the chlor-apatite of the mineralo- 

 gists, and dissolves in sulphuric acid. 



