Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 653 



Mr. S. Edwards Todd. — I will saj a word on the bones. I am no 

 chemist at all ; but I know something about the use of bones and sul- 

 phuric acid. He may keep his sulphuric acid and bones togetlier for 

 three years, and the bones will still remain bones. The acid must 

 be properly diluted. The amount of water to be mixed with it must 

 be determined by successive experiments on a small scale. When 

 tlie proper measure of dilution has been obtained, the bones can be 

 dissolved very quickly. ' 



Our chemists, in their lucubrations about bones and the making of 

 phosphate, have overlooked this im|X)rtant point, the proper strength 

 of the acid. When such acid is applied to cast iron to remove the 

 scale, it must be diluted just enough and no more. Pure acid will 

 not take hold and dissolve bones and the rough scales on new plows. 

 When I was on a farm I had a circular mill for grinding corn with 

 which I could grind bones, with one horse to work it. I sold that 

 mill to a man in New Brunswick, New England, and he told me that 

 he has ground thirty tons- of bones with that mill. . It cost me twenty 

 dollars. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — On this subject I had a full conversation with 

 Prof Horsford. He was a pupil of Liebig, and in this country he has 

 few if any equals in chemistry as applied to the domestic and useful 

 arts. He advises the farmer to make his own superphosphate, and 

 gives the following minute directions : Get your bones together and 

 break up all the biggest of them with an ax or heavy sledge. Raw 

 bones are much the best^ because they contain ammonia in the gelatine. 

 When, by boiling in lye, or by long bleaching, or by burning, the 

 organic matter has been wholly or in part expelled, the bone is still 

 valuable for its phosphate of lime. But a raw or flesh bone properly 

 treated will yield phosphate of ammonia — ^the most active and valuable 

 of all manures. 



Let the farmer dig a shallow pit shaped like a bread-bowl, and if 

 the soil is clay he may make it tight enough by ramming and treading ; 

 but if hia soil is sandy he should line the pit with a wagon-load of 

 clay. Pile the bones in the pit, and wet thein thoroughly with diluted 

 sulphuric acid. Sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol, will not operate on 

 bones unless water is added. He should buy one-fourth the weight 

 of his bones in sulphuric' acid ; if he has 400 weight of bones, he 

 should get 100 pounds of oil of vitriol ; it costs about three cents a 

 pound. In diluting the acid, more or less water may be used, 

 according as the bones are bleached, or of larger size ; bait as a rule, 



