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XVI. — On a Keic Mode of ^jreparinq Bones for Manure. By 

 Ph. Pusey, M.P. 



IIayixg succeeded in discovering a siin})le process for the cheaper 

 rise of bones as manure, I beg to state shortly the grounds which 

 led me to the inquiry, and the proofs of its success. 



In a few pages of this Journal, on the use of bones and sul- 

 phuric acid, 1 mentioned (two years since) that, if bones and moist 

 peat-ashes are thrown in a heap together, the mixture heats 

 violently, and the bones in a few days almost disappear, while 



their streno-th as manure is found to have areatlv increased. 



... 



This effect I ascribed to sulphuric acid contained in the peat- 

 ashes ; but it was a mistake, for the mixture, w^hen examined 

 chemically by Dr. Hofman, showed little or no sulphuric acid ; 

 and that Professor suggested that the decomposition must arise, 

 as in many animal and vegetable substances, according to Baron 

 Liebig, from the presence of moisture. 



This hint was the more encouraging, because, if peat-ashes 

 were not a necessary ingredient of the process it w"Ould be no 

 longer confined to those farmers, a small number comparatively, 

 who have peat- ashes at command. I therefore procured three 

 cart-loads of crushed bones, and, having wetted them, mixed one 

 cart-load with two loads of peat-ashes, another with two loads of 

 coal- ashes, and the third load of bones with two loads of sterile 

 white sand, dug up from some depth, and quite unnt in itself to 

 support vegetation. The three heaps were made up as com- 

 pactly as possible side by side. In a few days they all heated 

 equally, becoming too hot in the middle to be borne by the naked 

 hand ; in a few more the bones had disappeared in each heap 

 equally, being reduced in general to a blue mouldy substance. 

 Some corroded fragments, indeed, remained in the centres ; and 

 the outsides, to the depth of five or six inches, were unchanged, 

 because there the heat was insufficient. 



The experiment having so far succeeded, the next step, of 

 course, was to try the effects of the dissolved bones on the land, 

 and in ^lay, 1S46, they were used upon half- acre lots of early 

 turnips in equal proportions; the cvo])s produced by each mix- 

 ture were equally good. But as a single experiment does not, 

 I think, justify one in putting forth the recommendation of a nev/ 

 practice, I waited for the result of another year's trial, which I 

 will now lay before the Societv. 



It was made in July of the present year with common turnips. 

 The object was to test the new preparation by comparing it, on 

 the one hand, with unprepared bones, and, on the other, with 

 bones dissolved by sulphuric acid, called superphosphate-. 



The land is a hot stonebrash newly taken in hand and very 



