154 
NEW MODE OF PREPARING BONES FOR MANURE, ETC. 
COAL ASHES. 
By many persons, coal ashes are deemed of no 
value. One gentleman of wealth and intelligence, 
and an extensive and very good farmer, too, once 
said to us, to use his own expression, that they 
were "pisen" to land and vegetables. He had not 
examined their effects cautiously and candidly. 
There is so large a proportion of inorganic mineral 
matters, (earths never combined with vegetable,) 
that these ashes act feebly, and produce little ef- 
fect. 
The plants from which the coal is derived, were 
apparently produced in great luxuriance and profu- 
sion, and like the palms, ferns, lichens, and other 
plants which grow rapidly, or in swamps, (as the 
materials of our peat beds.) x These contain little 
else than carbon, and such earthy matters as were 
accidentally mixed with it. The consequence is, 
that all the carbon is consumed, and the ash is 
principally these comparatively worthless earths, 
Vet there are more or less of the valuable salts 
found in wood ashes in those from coal, and they 
should be carefully saved and applied to the soil. 
Forjnany reasons, they are better adapted to the 
clays than to other soils, and to this portion of the 
fields they should first be devoted ; or, in the ab- 
sence of clays, they may be applied to any other 
soils with advantage. 
NEW MODE OF PREPARING BONES FOR 
MANURE. 
There are several methods of preparing hones 
for application to land as manure. One is by cal- 
cination, or burning, by which all the organic mat- 
ter is burned or driven off. This fits the mineral 
portion of the bones for immediate and efficient 
action in the soil, in consequence of reducing the 
bones to a minute state of division, and expelling 
the oil and gelatine, which, for a time, prevents de- 
cay. By this process, however, the animal matter 
is lost as manure. This amounts to 35 to 50 per 
cent, of the fresh bone according to the age of the 
animals supplying them, the youngest always giv- 
ing the largest proportion of cartilage, oil, and 
gelatine. 
Another method is by placing the bones in a 
compact heap or hogshead, first crushing them, and 
pouring over them, from one third to one half their 
weight of sulphuric acid, diluted with water. This 
generally effects a speedy decomposition of the 
bones and augments the efficiency and intensity of 
their action, as the sulphuric acid is itself a power- 
ful manure for certain soils and crops. 
A less expensive mode, sometimes adopted, is, to 
place the bones together in a heap, and moisten them 
with ashes and water, covering closely with muck, 
manure, or common garden mold. If this be done 
in a warm room, or in the open air in summer, or 
in the centre of a bed of horse or other fermenting 
manure, they will soon dissolve, and be in a fit 
state for application to the crops, after mixing with 
mold so as to absorb their moisture. 
Grinding or crushing is the usual method of pre- 
paring bones for the soil. They are thus rendered 
comparatively fine, and are easily decomposed when 
incorporated in the ground. They are convenient- 
ly transported in barrels or sacks, and applied with 
little trouble either to the muck heap, or sown 
broadcast or in drills. In this condition, they aiso 
preserve the animal matters, (the oil and gelatine,) 
which are slowly given out by decomposition and 
materially contribute to the growth of the crops. 
A trial has recently been made which gives us 
another, and in many respects, a method superior to 
all others. It consists in subjecting them to steam of 
a high pressure for a few hours when the oil and 
gelatine are entirely separated, and the largest bones, 
skulls, hocks, vertebra, &c, are easily crushed 
between the thumb and finger, though retaining 
their full proportions and form. The fat may be 
thus drawn off and used for soap grease, for cart 
or wagon wheels, or for certain kinds of machinery, 
w T hile the remainder of the extracted matter is use- 
ful for manure. 
A small boiler for generating steam, with a larger 
one to hold the bones, and a connecting tube, each 
capable of sustaining a pressure of 25 lbs. to the 
inch, are all that are required for this purpose ; or 
should a steam boiler be already in use about the 
premises, this would supply the place of a steam 
generator. Where wood ashes are procurable, at 
fair rates, they are economically used with fresh 
bones, first by leaching and boiling the bones in the 
lye. If this process is thoroughly carried out, the 
oil is converted into soap, and the bones are pre- 
pared for ready decomposition in the soil. The 
spent lye yielded by the soap, and the leached 
ashes and lime remaining, may also be added to 
the soil, with the utmost advantage. 
PROTECTION OF GRAPE* VINES AGAINST ROSE 
BUGS. 
The cultivators of the grape, in many parts of 
Long Island, have often had their hopes blasted of 
enjoying this lucious fruit by the depradations of 
the rose bug, a small yellow beetle that appears in 
countless multitudes when the vine is in blossom 
and the berries are newly formed, for which they 
have a particular relish. To such an extent have 
these insects destroyed the products of the vine, 
that many have been induced to abandon all at- 
tempts to cultivate this fruit. Having been a close 
observer of the habits of this insect, I will offer a 
plan by which grapes have been grown secure 
from their attacks. 
In the first place, plant the vines adjoining some 
building, or close, high fence, in a place free from 
exposure to cattle, taking care, of course, that the 
ground is sufficiently loose and rich by the addi- 
tion of manure, wood-pile dirt, or almost any de- 
cayed animal or vegetable matter. The first year's 
growth of the vine should be cut down to about 
18 inches above the ground, and the second year's 
growth should be reduced to two shoots trained 
horizontally, about two feet above. Some time in 
the course of the second winter, prepare some 
strips of board, three inches wide, and of a length 
to suit the building, or fence, against which the 
vines are to be trained. Fasten them about three 
feet apart, in an upright position, to cleats, nailed 
on in such a manner as will allow the vines to be 
about four inches from the side of said building or 
fence. Then take pieces of No. 10 wire, and fas- 
ten the ends to screws inserted in the outside up- 
right strips, at the distance of 15 inches, one above 
the other. These outside strips should be secured 
