as a Manure for Turnips. 
71 
Supplementary Note. 
To the traveller who has journeyed long and sedulously, the 
attainment of his object, and the discovery at the same time, in 
the realization of his expectations, that his labour has not been 
fruitless, are matters of high gratification. In a similar manner 
the results of the present inquiry afford peculiar satisfaction to the 
writer, as they not only confirm his previous investigations, but 
convert the anticipations of science, on a most important question 
connected with the economy of the manure, into the certainty of 
fact. 
For instance, the theory which the facts now developed sustain, 
is the same which the facts previously elicited suggested : viz., 
that both the organic and inorganic parts of bones are fertilizers ; 
that the total action of the inorganic is greater than that of the 
organic ; that when applied in conjunction, the latter has a ten- 
dency to retard the action of the former ; that this tendency may 
be counteracted by pulverizing the bones ; that it may be most 
effectually accomplished by dissolving the bones in a diluted acid; 
and that the fertilizing influence of the bones thus treated will be 
quadrupled. 
This latter conclusion is, moreover, a practical truth of the 
greatest value, as it offers a saving of one-half the usual cost of 
the manure ; and the various circumstances under which the 
several applications which support this conclusion were tried, 
without one contradictory result, place that conclusion beyond the 
possibility of error, and justify us in asserting that practice has 
already realized what theory previously promised — " the most im- 
portant saving which was ever held out in the use of manure." * 
February 21, 1845. 
V. — Bones and Sulphuric Acid. By W. C. Spoonkr. 
As the Council invites the attendance and co-operation of 
members, and as the subject of the application of bones and sul- 
phuric acid has so recently engaged its attention, I beg to com- 
municate the result of an experiment tried by me during the last 
year. In the greater number of instances the bones and sulphuric 
acid have been applied in a liquid state, and though there is 
reason to believe that the most favourable results are likely to 
follow this mode of application, yet the trouble and inconvenience 
attending it, involving, as it does in the first place, a serious 
outlay, and the difficulty of confining the liquid to the drills, are 
so great as to preclude farmers generally from availing themselves 
• Mr. Pusey, Royal Agricultural Journal, vol. iv. p. 408. 
