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IV. — An Experimental Inquiri/ into the Theory of the Action, and 
the Practical Application, of Bones as a Manure for the 
Turnip Crop. By John Hannam, Hon. Mem. of the New 
York State Agricul. Soc, author of the ' Economy of Waste 
Manures/ &c. &c. &c. 
Prize Essay. 
' Nothing is more wanted in agriculture than experiments in which all the circum- 
stances are minutely and scientifically detailed. Information collected after views 
of distinct inquiry is necessarily fitted for inductive reasoning.' — Sir Humphry Davy, 
lec. i. p. 24. 
The above remarks are as applicable at the present time to the 
circumstances of agriculture as they were when they were first 
uttered. It is true that the field of experiment is no longer a 
terra incognita, but that its explorers are now numerous. Its 
attractions, indeed, have made it fashionable. It is, however 
equally true that its extent is so unlimited, that it is quite possible 
to wander in it without discovering any of those hidden mines of 
instruction which it is known to possess. It is not, therefore, to 
the casual tourist who wanders without aim and without object, 
but to the plodder who, with a fixed purpose in view, travels with 
his chart in his hand, that we are to look for such observations as 
we can depend upon for our future guidance. 
For these reasons it is necessary that every experiment should 
have, as Sir H. Davy has stated, distinct inquiries in view, or, to use 
the still more pertinent language cf Professor Johnston, " should 
be designed to ask a question of nature." 
Acting upon this impression, the writer, in the present experi- 
mental investigations, has not only had an important object in view, 
but has also endeavoured to ask such questions in such a manner 
that their answers might be both applicable and trustworthy. 
The special object of this inquiry is the theory of the action 
and \he practical application of bones as a manure for the turnip- 
crop. 
The importance of this inquiry needs little illustration. One- 
third of the whole turnip-crop of England depends upon the 
action of bones as a manure: and upon the turnip-crop, unques- 
tionably, depends that system of husbandry which has already 
doubled the amount of beef and mutton, without diminishing the 
supply of bread and beer, produced in England — the system 
of alternate cropping. It requires, therefore, but little logic to 
show that the interest of the farmer individually, and the country 
at large, is greatly concerned in this subject, and consequently in 
the matter of our inquiry — the action and application of the 
manure: upon a knowledge of which the proper economy of 
bones as a fertilizing agent depends. 
VOL. VI. E 
