1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



295 



For the Neic Knuland Famter. 

 PTJIiVEEIZED BONE. 



Dear Siu : — I notice a communication in your 

 paper from Mr. George Haskell to the Editors of 

 the Country Gentleman, in which he recommends 

 a mixture of ground bone, "the finer the better," 

 with "good friable soil," fermented together for a 

 time, say forty-eight hours, as the best prejiara- 

 tion of the phosphate of lime to be applied to 

 soils. The gist of Mr. Haskell's communication 

 is, that finely ground bone is better than any of 

 the artificial phosphates, so called, prepared with 

 vitriol or otherwise. 



If the opinion of Mr. Haskell were to prevail 

 among the farmers of New England, the demand 

 for finely pulverized bone, and in fiict for bone in 

 every shape would far exceed the natural supply. 

 We should then become importers of bone, in- 

 stead of being, as we now are, exporters of this 

 precious commodity, to our great loss and injury. 

 We should be competitors for bone in the markets 

 of the world with France and England, who are 

 impoverishing the farmers of the United States, 

 not only by the purchase af grain, but by exhaust- 

 ing the means which we have of restoring worn 

 out soils. A people who sell their phosphates for 

 gold, are selling the marrow, pith and substance 

 of the land, which no money can replace. 



That we are so far behind the French and Eng- 

 lish in our knnowledge of agricultural economv, 

 is sufficiently humiliating, but it is not too late to 

 mend the error and correct it in future. We have 

 what the French and English people have not. 

 We have machinery by which bone can be re- 

 duced, rapidly and economically, to an impalpable 

 dust, or flour. You say very truly, sir, in your 

 remarks upon Mr. Haskell's plan, that the diffi- 

 cult part of the matter is, how to grind the bone. 



1 quote further from your commentary: "There 

 are few things of this nature so difficult to accom- 

 plish as this. Granite, blue pebble stones from 

 the beach, nay, ten-penny nails, are not half so 

 hard to reduce to powder as a bone. We have 

 never yet known a mill that will grind a bone in 

 its crude condition. Even the manufacturers of 

 superphosphate are obliged to expel all the animal 

 or fatty matter from the bones before they can 

 grind them. Then the bones are ground and the 

 matter that was expelled is returned to them in a 

 liquid form. 



Every farmer will be obliged to Mr. Haskell 

 for making known his proce&s of reducing bones, 

 but will look to him with interest for information 

 how to break or grind them so that fermentation 

 in them may be secured. We can purchase what 

 is called "ground bone," but which is, in fact brok- 

 en bone. That, however, is not what is wanted." 



Messrs. Henry A. Breed & C >., who have ad- 

 vertised their unadulterated flour of bone in your 

 paper, have expended a respectable capital and 

 more than a year of time in attaining a complete 

 solution of the difficulty of which you speak. 

 Their success has been complete, and the singular 

 value of the results which they have attained, will 

 be attested by a large circle of intelligent agricul- 

 turists who have been experimenting with their 

 flour of bone, in the vicinity of Boston during 

 the past season. w. 



Some men are born to own, and can animate all 

 their possessions. 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



SUMMER. 



Long pras9 swaying in the playing 



Of the; almost wcaric'ii lireori: ; 

 Flowers lu.wcil bcnuatti a crowd 



Of the \xllow armor'd bees ; 

 Sumptuous fort'fts filled with twilight, 



Like a dreamy old romance, 

 Rivers fallinp, rivers calling, 



In their indolent advance ; 



Crimson heath bells making regal 



All the solitary places ; 

 Dominant liplit, that pierces down 



Into the deep blue water spaces ; 

 Sun-uprisinps, and sun settings, 



And intensities of noon ; 

 Purple darkness of the midnight, 



And the glory of the mooD. 



Rapid, rosy-tinted liphtninps, 



Where the rocky clouds are riven. 

 Like the lifting of a vail 



Before the inner courts of heaven j 

 Silver stars in azure evenings, 



Slowly climbing up the steep ; 

 Cornfields ripening to the harvest. 



And the wide seas smooth with sleep. 



DOMESTIC BECEIPTS. 

 Broiled Tomatoes. — In order to have toma- 

 toes nice, cooked in this manner, the largest ones 

 must be selected. Cut them into rather thick sli- 

 ces, seasoning each piece with pe])per and salt. 

 Use an oyster gridiron to broil them on — a com- 

 mon one will anssver — and cook them but a few 

 moments. When sent to the table, add butter. 



Tomato ProDiSG. — Slice the tomatoes, place 

 a layer of them in the bottom of an earthern dish, 

 cover with bread crumbs, profusely seasoned ; add 

 another layer of tomatoes and cover with bread 

 crumbs as before, and, when the dish is filled, 

 place on the top a piece of butter. Put the dish 

 into a moderate oven, and if two layers of toma- 

 toes fill it, twenty minutes will be long enough for 

 them to be sufficiently cooked. 



Preserving Tomatoes. — ;Much cooking of this 

 fruit destroys not only its flavor, but leaves a pul- 

 taceous mass, hardly recognizable by its taste or 

 appearance. As my wife has a more excellent 

 way — so ft'e think — I will describe it. Put the to- 

 matoes nto a large dish ; then pour on boiling 

 water so that the rind or peel can be more readily 

 taken ofi"; after which, squeeze a good part of the 

 juice out of the tomato while it is in the hand ; 

 then cut into two to four pieces according to size. 

 Cook for a few minutes until well heated through ; 

 bottle, using no corks, thick drilling only, cement- 

 ed on the under side, put on the mouth of tlve 

 bottle and jiressed down and tied. Then with a 

 spoon dip on the wax (resin with a little lard,) un- 

 til the top is covered ; when cool, set in cellar and 

 exclude the light. Prepared in this way, you will 

 get the real, genuine flavor of the tomatoes when 

 cooked, nearly equal to those just picked from the 

 vines. — L. 0'., in American Ji(/riciUluri,<t. 



fs^ Dr. Bellows stated in his speech before the 

 American Unitarian Association, that in the midst 

 of the unprecedented excitement of the last two 

 years, tlie amount of insanity in tlic country has 

 materially decreased from wliat it wa< in time of 

 peace. The substitution of a nolilc and honh!iy 

 excitement for ipnol)Ic and detrradinf; agitatiuns of 

 mind thus shows itself by the most delicate of testa. 



