462 
Bones and Sulphuric Acid as Manures. 
food, or when we wish to sow wheat upon the turnip fallow — a 
practice which is now far from being unfrequent, and which the 
increasing demand for wheat it is probable will render still more 
common. Again, a season may be unfavourable, and the soil unfit, 
or other circumstances may interfere so as to retard the time of 
sowing. In either case the quick growth of the plant, by the use 
of the application, is an object of importance, as it, in fact, gives us 
the power of having a good early crop or a good late sown crop. 
Such, then, is the action of dissolved bones, upon the turnip- 
crop, as laid down by science, and as developed by practice, the 
particulars of which afford us good and sufficient cause for assert- 
ing that we are indebted to science for a discovery of " one of the 
most important savings which was ever held out in the use of 
manure." How far that discovery may be made generally useful 
will be seen from the following inquiry into its application. 
The application of dissolved bones (a tillage which has been 
shown in the foregoing pages to be attended with so many pecu- 
liar results, and, I may add, so many direct and indirect advan- 
tages) is a subject worthy of particular investigation, not merely 
because the public use of the advantages arising from this, or 
from any discovery, greatly depends upon its applicability to public 
and general pvirposes, but because that investigation, should diffi- 
culties exist, will give us an opportunity of removing them, or, 
should they not exist, of correcting an idea or impression which 
is generally made a handle of against anything that is new — the 
idea of the impracticability of the discovery; — a peg upon which 
many who will not venture to question the theory, or to deny the 
facts stated, will in this case hang an excuse for condemning the 
application before they test it. " Its effects may be good, but it 
is not calculated for general use ; its application is a matter not 
adapted for the farmer. The lancet, which in the hands of the 
surgeon is a simple and useful instrument, if used by a novice is 
a dangerous weapon," is the purport of the popular argument, and 
which is taken up by many practical men to whom the words 
sulphuric and muriatic acids suggest visions of murky laboratories 
and mystic operations which the farmer has no cognizance of, — 
forgetful that these wonderful acids are nothing more than oil of 
vitriol and spirits of salt, and that the same skill which is re- 
quired to mix an effervescing draught is all that is required to 
make ready a preparation of dissolved bones. This will be seen 
from the following detail of the particulars connected with the 
application. 
The points to be considered in the preparation and application 
of the tillage are — 1st. the bones, sort, quantity, and condition of; 
2nd. the acid, sort and quantity of ; 3rd. the water, sort and 
quantity of; 4th. the method of preparation and use. 
