1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



257 



BONE MANURE. 



ONG as bones have 

 been used as a fer- 

 tilizer, their effect 

 and operation are 

 not well understood 

 by farmers. It has 

 been supposed that 

 the nutritive prop- 

 erties of bones, 

 •when applied to 

 the soil, are rapidly 

 exhausted. This, 

 however, appears 

 not to be the fact. 

 In England, where the actual value of manu- 

 res is estimated on the basis of experiments, 

 and where exactness is observed in analyses, 

 it has been ascertained that the mineral con- 

 stituents of the bone — particularly the phos- 

 phates — are discoverable in the soil for years 

 after bone manure has been applied, even when 

 tae ground has been cropped with vegetables 

 supposed, or rather known, to appropriate 

 this manure in what may be termed excessive 

 quantities. 



As there are still many who are not willing 

 to grant much efficacy to bone manure, and as 

 it has been sharply criticised on several recent 

 occasions, it is well to present something on 

 the other side of the question, and we, there- 

 fore, give below the chief points of a paj>er 

 on the analysis of the soils of a farm in Eng- 

 land, the property of, and occupied by, C. H. 

 T. Hawkins, Esq. Its object was to test the 

 durability of bone dust as a manure, for a 

 period of ten years. 



It appears that a piece of waste ground was 

 broken from a common and tilled in turnips, 

 the larger part of which was manured with 

 bone-dust, at the rate of twenty- four bushels 

 to the acre. In the two following years it was 

 successively cropped with oats, and with the 

 last crop laid down to permanent pasture, in 

 which state it has remained ever since. 



Ten years after the application the effect of 

 the bone-dust could be plainly distinguished — 

 the grass, as far as the eye could reach, hav- 

 ing a rich sward ; while the adjoining part, 

 where no bone-dust had been applied, had a 

 coarse, sterile appearance ; the difference be- 

 ing as great as if a line had been drawn be- 

 tween rich pasture, and scanty, coarse herb- 

 age. 



Samples of these two divisions of soil were 

 sent to Mr. Hunt, then curator of the Muse- 

 um of Economic Geology, to be analyzed, in 

 order to ascertain if the bone could be de- 

 tected after the lapse of ten years. Mr. Hunt, 

 it should be here observed, was altogether ig- 

 norant of the object of the analysis. The re- 

 sult, however, was perfectly satisfactory, inas- 

 much as he readily detected the bone in that 

 portion of the field on which it had been ap- 

 plied ten years before. 



The following are the analyses : — 



Substances No. 1. No. 2. 



Water evL.porated by etove, 14.06 14.18 



VpgPtable and anlmiil matters bnrnt oflf, . 12 01 12.06 



Bilica and Bilicious grit, 49.54 49 50 



Oxide of iron 7.03 7.00 



Carbonate of lime, 1.06 l.fft 



Oarbonate of magaeBia, 25 0,36 



Sulphr.tecf lime, 105 1.04 



Muriates, 0.64 0.54 



Alumina, 7,10 6 04 



P.:ogpbateof lime, O.iQ 0.76 



Phosphate of magneaia, 09 05 



Potash, 1.00 1 27 



Humus and soluble alkalies, ...... 6.00 6.17 



It was deduced from these experiments, that 

 the principal manuring properties of the bone 

 existed in the earthy matters, which constitute 

 about two-thirds of the bone, and not in the 

 oily and gelatinous parts, constituting the re- 

 maining third. 



The bones of animals are derived originally 

 from the hay, straw, and other products of 

 the soil which the animals consume as food. 

 More than one-half the weight of bones con- 

 sists of the phosphate of lime and magnesia, 

 "Upon every acre of land appropriated to the 

 growth of wheat, clover, potatoes or turnips, 

 forty pounds of bone-dust will be found suffi- 

 cient to furnish an adequate supply of phos- 

 phates for three successive crops." 



It is hardly a fair experiment to use bones 

 once or twice, and form an opinion upon their 

 merits, whether the experiment succeeds or is 

 a failure. There are certain atmoapheric, or 

 other conditions always affecting the manures 

 applied. We have known persons use guano 

 from the same bag, one of whom found de- 

 cided advantages from it, while the other de- 

 clared he "would not team it twenty miles for 

 it." The same results have occurred in the 

 use of bones, superphosphate of lime and 

 other fertilizers. In order to form intelligent 

 opinions with regard to special manures, we 

 must apply them on different soils, cultivate 

 the crops where they are applied precisely as 

 those are where manure is used, and then 

 carefully compare results. 



