I860.] 



THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



677 



a very large manuring, and 200 or 300 

 pounds is usually the most profitable in the 

 long run. These quantities correspond to 

 1800, 600 and 900 respectively of castor 

 pummace. I find that the largest doses of 

 rape cake, (a manure of almost identical 

 composition, rather inferior in amount of 

 ammonia perhaps) given in English and 

 Saxon husbandry, are 1500 to 2000 pounds 

 per acre, while 600 to 800 pounds are the 

 customary applications. More is needed on 

 heavy than on light soils. 



It is frequently urged as an objection to 

 manures of this sort that they exhaust the 

 soil. It is however always the crops that are 

 removed, and never the manure applied, 

 which exhausts the soil. The exclusive and 

 continued use of this or any similar fertilizer 

 will be followed by exhaustion ; but by 

 judiciously alternating or combining it with 

 mineral manures, as wood ashes leached or 

 unleached, New Jersey green-sand, super- 

 phosphate of lime, or phosphatic guano, it 

 may be used with safety and advantage. 



BONE DUST AND BONE MEAL. 



These articles from the store of Wm. 

 Kellogg, Hartford, have been analyzed with 

 results as follows : 



Bone Dnst. Bone Meal. 

 Water, - - 8.75 8.40 10.25 9.10 



Organic matter, 27.25 27.27 26.02 27.55 

 Sand, - - 5.37 5.30 .10 .30 



Earthy phos- 

 phates, - 45.32 45.32 57.39 57.13 

 Carbonate of 



lime as loss, 13.31 13.71 6.24 5.92 



100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 

 Potential ammonia, 2,98 3.50 4.25 4.28 



Of the bone dust a more extended analy- 

 sis was made, in which the amount of phos- 

 phoric acid was determined with more ac- 

 curacy than in the above analyses. It 

 was undertaken on account of the high per- 

 centage of carbonate of lime, indicated, but 

 not satisfactorily proved to be present by 

 the first examinations. It confirms them as 

 the following results show : 



Bone Dust. 



Water, - - 8.75 



Organic matter, 27.25 



Sand, - -. - - .... 5.37 



Lime, .- -' 29.37 



Oxyd of iron, - - - -. .52 

 Magnesia, 1.16 

 Phosphoric acid, - - - - 21.56 



Carbonic acid (as loss, - - - - 6.02 



100.00 



The bone meal is of the kind used for 

 feeding, and is a very finely-divided white and 

 pure article, consisting apparently of turn- 

 ings of bone, and is well adapted for its 

 purpose. 



The bone dust is obviously ground from 

 bones that have been boiled or steamed to 

 extract their fat, and have also parted with 

 a portion of cartilage (animal tissue,) as is 

 evident from the small percentage of poten- 

 tial ammonia, 



In the collection of the bones, no great 

 care has been taken to remove adhering 

 dirt and sand, for we find more than five per 

 cent, of this impurity. There is also thir- 

 teen and a half per cent, of carbonate of 

 lime, which is more by five or six per cent, 

 than is usually found in steamed or boiled 

 bones. When we compare the composition 

 of the dust with that of the meal, the latter 

 representing pure bone, we find that there is 

 a difference of twelve per cent, of phos- 

 phates (nearly six per cent, of phosphoric 

 acid,) and one and a quarter per cent, of 

 potential ammonia. Doubtless there has 

 been no intentional adulteration practised on 

 this bone dust; but it is not quite so pure as 

 it ought to be. The sample is hardly so fine 

 as to deserve the name of dust, as it contains 

 a good share of unground fragments. Few 

 of these, however, would not pass a sieve 

 with eight holes to the linear inch, and it is 

 therefore in a good form for use. 



A few words with regard to the use of 

 bone meal for feeding. When employed for 

 this purpose, bone meal is intended to sup- 

 ply, especially to milch cows, the lack of 

 phosphates in the food. It appears pretty 

 well established that the soil of many pas- 

 ture lands ,may become so exhausted of 

 phosphoric acid, that the herbage does not 

 yield to cows, enough of this ingredient for 

 the proper nutriment of their bony system, 

 and at the same time supply the large de- 

 mand 'for phosphates made by the milk 

 secreting organs. Cows thus poorly fed, 

 turn instinctively to the proper remedy, and 

 neglect no opportunity to gnaw upon any old 

 bones they may be able to find. The results 

 of continued feeding on such pocr pastures, 

 are a loss of health on the part of the cows, 

 especially manifested in a weakening or 

 softening of the bones — the bone disease, 

 that is not now uncommon in our older dairy 

 districts. It is found, if we may rely on the 

 experience of our best farmers, that this evil 

 " can be partially remedied by directly feed- 



