462 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



excellent straw will be obtained, but the grain 

 will be small in amount ; it will be a crop bet- 

 ter calculated to make bonnets than bread. 

 It is calculated that one hundred pounds of 

 bone-dust are equal to twenty-five or thirty hun- 

 dred pounds of stable-manure. Although 

 bones contain such fertilizing materials, they 

 must be well pulverized in order that they may 

 be immediately available for the nutrition of 

 of plants. It takes often even twenty or more 

 years for the soil to disintegrate fragments of 

 bone of the size of a hazel-nut or a pea, and 

 yet such fragments are frequently seen in the 

 bone-dust of commerce." Happily, means have 

 been discovered to reduce them to paste or 

 flour, of which we shall speak hereafter. 



As auxiliaries or helps, in the management 

 of soils, we have said that genuine special ma- 

 nures may be in some cases profitably used. 

 No exact rules, however, can be prescribed for 

 their employment. The nature of the soil, its 

 texture, or mechanical condition, the degree of 

 moisture It has, the state of the season and the 

 time of application, all have so much to do 

 with them, that exact rules would often prove 

 inapplicable if they were given. The farmer 

 will remember that plants feed only upon mat- 

 ter in solution, — that is, the bone, plaster, 

 potash or ashes, must be dissolved, and in the 

 form of liquid, before the roots can avail 

 themselves of its nutriment. If, therefore, 

 any of the special manures are applied to a 

 soil so lacking in moisture as not to render 

 them soluble, they remain inactive in the soil, 

 and the plant derives no benefit from them. 

 So if a soil — for the want of drainage — is con- 

 stantly charged with cold water, which keeps 

 the temperature so low that putrefaction can- 

 not take place, plants derive but little benefit 

 from manure of any kind, even if a redun- 

 dance of it were applied. 



These simple statements will illustrate, per- 

 haps, why so many experiments with special 

 manures are set down as failures. They are 

 used uuder such circumstances as to render 

 them completely inoperative. 



When these are applied, therefore, they 

 should be upon soils that are porous and fine, 

 so that atmospheric action will be free among 

 the particles, warming and moistening them. 

 Under these circumstances, the fine grains, or 

 flour, of bone, guano, superphosphate, or any 

 of the special manures, soon become softened 



by the dampness of the soil, then warmed by 

 the genial rays of the sun, — which easily pen- 

 etrate it because it is light and fine, — and its 

 nutritive powers, by the process of fermenta- 

 tion and putrefaction, are soon converted into 

 a soluble form, all ready to be appropriated 

 by the roots of the plants. 



Treated in this way, special manures are 

 quick in their action, giving plants an early and 

 vigorous start, and pushing them rapidly for- 

 ward, until their roots find new means of sup- 

 port in the soil which they penetrate in all di- 

 rections. In rows of corn or vegetables where 

 they are applied, the foliage will be found more 

 luxuriant and of a richer and deeper color 

 than in rows where none had been placed. 

 These conditions must be observed, or they 

 will frequently prove a failure. They should, 

 also, be near the surface, where they will be 

 kept moist by the dampness of the atmosphere 

 and summer showers. Even when these con- 

 ditions are observed, it will be well to apply 

 them to the soil just before a fall of rain, in 

 misty weather, or during a gentle shower. 



LIME AND SALT FOK CTJKIWQ HAY. 

 We take great pleasure in presenting the 

 following answer to the inquiry of Mr. Met- 

 calf in respect to the views of chemists as to 

 the supposed action of salt and lime in coun- 

 teracting the natural tendency of imperfectly 

 cured hay to heat and spoil in the mow. Al- 

 though Dr. Nichols does not assign a philosoph- 

 ical reason for the curative properties of the 

 mixture which is ascribed to it by Mr. Metcalf, 

 the readers of the Farmer will thank liim for 

 his prompt response. 



150 CoxGRESs Street, 



Boston, Aug. 16, 1867. 



Mr. S. Fletcher, — Dear Sir : — I have 

 just read in the Farmer, your letter to Mr. 

 Brown regarding Mr. Metcalf's method of 

 curing hay by the employment of lime and 

 salt. I was so very busy when you called at 

 our counting room, I failed to learn the true 

 import or nature of your inquiries. It is ev- 

 ident considerable interest will be awakened 

 in this subject, and therefore I hasten to pre- 

 sent to your readers, a chemical view of the 

 matter, which I trust is reliable. 



If the quantities of salt and quick lime men- 

 tioned by Mr. Metcalf were mixed together, 

 and sprinkled with water, double decomposition 

 would result, and caustic soda and chloride of 



