I 



I . 



On the Reduction of Horse Labour hij single Carls. 91 



number of lal30urers and their families ; and of course for the 

 support to a proportionate increase of our agricultural population : 

 whose labour will furnish a supply for an equal augmentation of 

 the population at large. 



Believe me to be. Sir, 



Your most obedient servant, 



Henry J. Hannam. 



Burcotf, Oxfordshire, Sept. 19, 1840. 



XI. — On the Application of Bones to Grass Lands, on Lord 

 Comhermere's Estate. By Mr. Edward Billyse. Com- 

 municated by the Marquis of Downshire. 



Within the last nine years Lord Combermere has supplied his 

 tenantry (upon the Combermere estate in Cheshire) with bones 

 for upwards of 600 statute acres of their pasture land, at a cost 

 of about 10/. an acre. The land before the bones were applied 

 was not worth more than from 10s. to lbs. an acre; it is now 

 well worth from 30s. to 40s. His lordship charges the tenantry 

 7 per cent, upon the outlay; they would gladly pay 10 per cent, 

 rather than not have the bones. 



Old sour turf upOn a clay subsoil is the land that answers best 

 to manure with bones, though I have seen them used upon a drv, 

 friable soil, and a sandy substratum with success. I have never 

 known them to fail when there is a strong turf and the land free 

 from water. 



Upon Lord Combermere's estate bones are not allowed to be 

 put upon land until it has been down in grass at least seven 

 years. I have seen them tried upon clover of the first year, and 

 upon land that has been down in grass two or three years, but in 

 very few instances where land has recently been in tillage have I 

 known bones to answer well. 



The end of April I consider the best time to apply bones ; no 

 stock ought to be put upon the land before the following spring. 

 If the land is not too poor to produce a crop of hay, I do not 

 object to its being mown the first year, but on no account 

 afterwards. 



Thirty to 35 cwt. is the quantity used upon a statute acre, 

 according to the quality of the land; or if bought by the bushel, 

 one bushel of bones to a rood of 64 square yards ; if the land is 

 very poor, 90 bushels to a statute acre. 



An imperial bushel of bone-dust should weigh from 45 to 47lbs. 

 if ground fine enough. I prefer them ground to about the size 

 of a walnut. 



