40 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIS1 
IVew-Yorfe, Thursday, March 29. 
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not considered paid f 01 —and is in all cases 
stopped when the subscription runs out. 
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who are not subscribers. This is sometimes 
done as a compliment, and in other cases to 
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Answer to Inquiries. —Questions of vari¬ 
ous kinds have been received with no names 
accompanying. These we do not reply to, 
from certain considerations not necessary to 
repeat. The name of a writer will always 
be withheld from a published question, or 
communication, when it is requested. 
DISSOLVING BONES. 
We have before treated this subject some¬ 
what at length (see vol. xi, page 113, and vol. 
xii, page 56), but large editions of the num¬ 
bers containing those articles have been ex¬ 
hausted by the calls for them, and every 
week brings inquiries from new subscribers. 
To answer these we will again briefly de¬ 
scribe the process. 
Where a good mill for grinding bones is 
near at hand, it is best to have them finely 
ground, and they may then be applied direct¬ 
ly to the soil; though in most cases we 
should prefer dissolving even the bone-dust 
in sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol). To do this, 
dilute the acid with two or three times its 
bulk of water, and moisten the ground bones 
with it. This can be done best in a half 
barrel, tub, or trough. Shovel over the mass 
thoroughly, so that every particle may be 
brought in contact with the liquid. The 
mixing may be completed upon a floor, or 
on a hard ground surface—under a shed or 
other cover to keep off the rain. When the 
mixing is thoroughly accomplished, put the 
ivhole in a heap, and let it lie for a few days, 
and then treat it as described below. 
Whole Bones.— In a majority of instances 
a bone-mill is not accessible. It is then ne¬ 
cessary to resort to dissolving the whole 
bones. This is not a difficult process, if suf¬ 
ficient time is taken. The following method 
Ave have both practiced ourselves, and seen 
it repeatedly performed under our directions, 
with the best success : 
Take any Avater-tight, wooden-hooped bar¬ 
rel or cask, and fill it one-third full or less 
with a mixture of sulphuric acid and Avater. 
The Avater should be put into the barrel first, 
or the acid undiluted would char and in a 
short time destroy the wood. The acid 
should be added in small quantities at a 
time, as a high degree of heat Avould be pro¬ 
duced if it were all added at once. The 
water should constitute from two-thirds to 
three-fourths of the bulk of the liquid ; "that 
is, betAveen two and three gallons of water 
for each gallon of acid to be used. 
When the liquid is thus prepared, the 
bones may be put in and punched doAvn with 
a stick, until they rise some distance above 
the liquid. The closer the bones are packed 
in, the greater the economy of time, as more 
of them Avill be at once exposed to the action 
of the liquid. It is better to break the bones 
into small pieces Avith a hammer or sledge, 
unless you have several months before you 
for completing the process. 
Bet the mass stand for a feAv Aveeks, 
frequently working it over Avith a stirring 
stick. As fast as the bones sink doAvn into 
the liquid, more of them should be added. 
The liquid will often dissolve tAvo or three 
times its bulk of bones. When the liquid 
ceases to act longer upon the bones to di¬ 
minish their bulk, Ave may conclude that its 
strength is exhausted ; and it may then be 
poured off for use, and more fresh liquid be 
added to the bones remaining, and the pro¬ 
cess be continued in the same vessel. As 
the dissolved bones Avill not deteriorate if 
kept for years, it is economical to use the 
same cask and add bones or acid as may be 
wanted. The barrel or cask should be ex¬ 
amined occasionally, to see if there is dan¬ 
ger of the hoops or bottom giving Avay, in 
Avhicli case the Avhole contents should be at 
once transferred to another vessel. 
Using the Dissolved Bones.— To the liquid, 
or to the mass of ground bones, let there be 
added dry muck enough to render the whole 
so dry that it will readily crumble to poAvder. 
The more complete the mixing of these the 
better. The mixing can be done Avith a 
shovel, hoe, and garden rake. In the ab¬ 
sence of muck, dry manure, or even dry soil 
of any kind may be used. The mixture may 
be added to the manure or compost heap if 
desirable. It Avill be all the more valuable 
if no more than tAvo gallons of the liquid, or 
a peck of the ground bones, be mingled with 
a cart-load of muck or manure, though so 
large a proportion of the latter is not neces¬ 
sary.* 
This compost may be spread over the 
land, and mixed Avith the surface soil by har- 
roAving, and the Avhole then be ploAved un¬ 
der ; or it may be soavii upon the surface, 
to be Avashed doAvn by rain. In planted 
crops it may be put into the hill Avith the 
seed. If it has been well mixed with a large 
quantity of muck or other materials, there 
will be no danger of injury to the seed or 
plants from its direct application. If this 
has not been done, care should be taken to 
cover it Avith earth before dropping in the 
seed. This preparation is probably more 
valuable to the root crops—turnips, carrots, 
beets, &c., than to grains and grasses, though 
containing, as it does, large amounts of ani¬ 
mal matter, derived from the unburned bones, 
it will be found valuable for any crop. 
* If the liquid is poured off for use, before it lias entirely 
ceased to act upon the bones, it contains some free acid, 
and we have formerly recommended a small, quantity of 
unleaclied ashes to be added to neutralize this excess of 
acid; but as this may be improperly done by the inexpe¬ 
rienced, we have ceased to advise tills course. The acid 
can be entirely freed from any injurious effects by a free 
use of much or other divisor. 
To our Southern Readers — An Inquiry.— 
We have recently conversed Avith several in¬ 
telligent gentlemen, whose observations have 
differed from our oavii in regard to the vital¬ 
ity of the “ Spanish Moss," after the death of 
the tree supporting it. Will some one who 
has opportunity for carefully examining this 
subject give us the result of his observations ? 
Does or does not the moss continue ingrowth 
after the sap ceases to circulate in the tree 
upon which it grOAvs 1 
HOW WE KEEP OUR HENS, 
Hen-house, in the appropriate sense of 
that Avord, avc have none. We have no 
doubt of the utility of those structures, and 
that something very much better than our 
contrivance could be got up Avith a little 
leisure to plan it, and money to build Avith. 
But we have had eggs ^nd chickens enough, 
for the last five years, to satisfy our edito¬ 
rial ambition, without the trouble of putting 
up a hen-house. Our barn stands on the 
south side of a hill, and under a part of 
I it we have a cellar excavated, stoned and 
pointed with mortar. It makes a snug, 
warm room, about 20 feet by 10, opening to 
the south. A large ventilator communicates 
Avith the barn above, and the door is kept 
open at all times, except in snow storms and 
the coldest nights when the thermometer is 
in the neighborhood of zero. On such 
occasions, Avhen Jack Frost is out in 
state, Ave close the door. On either side of 
the cellar there are large, long poles put up 
for roosts, three on a side, and at such 
heights from the ground that they are easily 
reached by the foAvls, and that the droppings 
from the upper i-oav of fovvls fall clear of 
their neighbors below them. Underneath 
the roosts Ave keep a good supply of char¬ 
coal dust or muck, and in addition to this avc 
make a constant use of plaster. As often 
as every morning, in mild weather, and eve¬ 
ry other morning in cold, Ave sprinkle a large 
shovelful upon the droppings. This keeps 
the air perfectly sweet, and absorbs the most 
of the ammonia. The olfactories are a very 
good meter for the necessary quantity of 
plaster, and the rule is to sprinkle as much 
and as often as you can detect any unpleas¬ 
ant odor. This is essential to the health of 
the foAvls, and avc have no doubt that more 
foAvls die of bad air, from lack of attention, 
than from all other causes united. The 
manure made in this Avay is very powerful; 
not equal in value to guano, pound for pound, 
but much cheaper than guano at the cost of 
its manufacture. It forms a very handsome 
item in the annual profits of keeping fowls. 
In the yard upon which the cellar opens, 
we have a large pile of refuse cabbages, not 
quite good enough for market, and a little 
too good for the compost heap. These are 
gathered late in the fall, when frozen, and 
covered Avith salt-hay or other refuse matter. 
They keep in a frozen state nearly all Avin- 
ter. The hens have constant access to 
them, and get all the green food they Avant. 
This, Avith the other attentions, keeps them 
in fine health. They have pounded oyster- 
shells both in the cellar and in the yard, and 
fresh Avater every day. The staple feed is 
Indian corn, raw, soaked, and in meal scalded 
This is varied with oats, and the sweepings 
I of grain stores and screenings from the 
city 
