PREPARING BONES FOR MANURE-DISSOLVING THEM IN SULPHURIC ACID. 
311 
in the Jarseys. He had been taken in some 
years ago, by a Yankee clockmaker, who had 
sold him a machine, that ditTnt quite come up to 
the recommendations of Mr. Slick. When the 
poultry fever broke out in Boston, last fall, he 
was determined on revenge against the Yankee 
nation, and luckily for him, he had all the 
weapons of war, catapults, battering rams, and 
what not, to accomplish his design. So down 
to “ Bosting ” he started, with about 500 head— 
we might better have said 1,000 wings of poul¬ 
try. His geese weighed 23 pounds a-piece, while 
Colonel Jacque’s—the brag game cock of the 
old Bay State—weighed but 19 pounds 2 ounces; 
turkeys weighed 26 pounds; Dominiques 9 
pounds; Jersey blues 10 pounds ; Shanghaes 12 
pounds, while the capons kicked the beam at 
30 pounds the pair! the latter, perhaps, being 
bought especially for continuing the breed ! All 
were turned into gold at $5 to $7 and $8 per 
pair, for fowls, $10 for turkeys, while the geese 
were deemed very cheap at $20, the price being 
probably raised from the undue excitement 
among the ganders. 
The result was so satisfactory to our Jersey 
friend, having got full indemnity for his wooden 
pumpkin seeds, that he intends being on hand 
with “ a few more of the same sort ” at the next 
poultry fair in the metropolis of universal Yan- 
keedom. With the epic bard we ejaculate, 
When Gilpin next doth ride abroad, 
May we be there to see. 
PREPARING- BONES FOR MANURE—DISSOLVING 
THEM IN SULPHURIC ACID. 
By breaking up the solid and tenacious 
structure of bones before applying them to the 
soil, their materials are much more readily ap¬ 
propriated by plants. If applied in the condition 
in which they are found in the animal, years 
would elapse before they would thoroughly dis¬ 
solve and mix their elements with their kindred 
dust. By the mechanical operations of break¬ 
ing, crushing, grinding, or sawing; or the chem¬ 
ical change effected by dissolving in sulphuric 
acid, or by steaming, burning, or fermentation, 
they are ready, at once, to yield their nutritive 
properties to the crops. 
In this country, bones are generally ground 
before using as manure. Immense quantities 
are furnished by the manufacturers of buttons, 
and other products of bones, and this is so finely 
divided by sawing and other manipulations, as 
to need no further preparation. But in Europe, 
much of the bone is prepared for agricultural 
purposes by dissolving in sulphuric acid. This 
is done by mixing two or three parts of water 
with one of acid. If the bones have been pre¬ 
viously crushed, one third their weight of acid 
will dissolve them; if they have not been pre¬ 
viously broken up, then half the quantity may 
be required. The sulphuric acid is worth, usu¬ 
ally, in this market, about two and a half cents 
per pound, while the bones, especially thf" aj* 1 
fuse ones, in the interior, may be conside c \\ 
valueless for any other purpose except manu Z [. 
If there be no means for grinding, then we say. I 
decidedly, wherever manure is desirable, (and | 
where is it not ?) it will generally pay for dis¬ 
solving the bones in the acid, if obtainable at 
the above price. It may, however, be a still 
more economical preparation to burn them, by 
which the earthy matters, the phosphates, &c., 
are all left in the residuum. 
The sulphuric acid is, of itself, a fertiliser of 
much value, and by its application alone, will, 
under favorable circumstances for its applica¬ 
tion, produce good returns. We should, however, 
esteem it, in this country, as too expensive for 
general use, considering its relative value as 
compared with our products. 
Fermentation of bones, is quite as economi¬ 
cal as burning, and by this process, fertilising 
portions, which would otherwise be expelled 
and driven off into the atmosphere, will be re¬ 
tained with the earthy matter, and remain to 
add to the value of the compost heap. Each of 
these methods we have more than once de¬ 
tailed in the previous columns of our paper, but 
the great value of bones, as fertilisers, induces 
us frequently to recur to it. 
NEW VARIETY OF WHEAT. 
We have received form one of our correspon¬ 
dents, the following description of a new vari¬ 
ety of wheat he has cultivated for two or three 
years. We have the promise of some of this 
seed another season, it having all been engaged 
before our application reached the grower:—• 
I selected some stalks from my field of new 
wheat, the past season, that measured, in height, 
six feet, nine and a half inches; the blades were 
seven eighths of an inch wide, by actual meas¬ 
urement, and the heads, including beard, eleven 
inches long, and containing as many as 120 
grains, which, in point of size, surpass anything 
of the wheat kind, known in this section of the 
country. I have never sown any of this wheat, 
early enough to expose it to the attack of the 
fly, and cannot, therefore, say positively, whether 
or not, it is capable of resisting successfully, the 
incursions of that great enemy to the wheat 
growers. I will say, however, that, if vigor and 
strength are any safeguard against the fly, it 
is entirely impervious to the attacks of that 
foe. 
In regard to its power of resisting rust, I think 
the experience of two consecutive years, wi.’l 
justify me in saying that it is not at all liable to 
that disaster. I selected, last fall, thirteen acres, 
in the middle of my field, upon which I seeded 
my new wheat, broadcast, plowed it in, and 
harrowed on top the lands, to pulverise and 
level the same. On each side of this lot, I seeded, 
in the same manner, and almost the same time, 
two other varieties of wheat, one of which, the 
“ hardware,” is a favorite bearded white wheat 
The result was, that both the old varieties were 
injured by rust, whilst the wheat in question, 
entirely escaped. The season just gone by, has 
been one of the worst upon the wheat growers 
i that has been known here, for many years. 
! There was not one single kind of wheat in the 
wnole county of St. Mary’s, so far as I have 
I been able to ascertain, that was not injured 
I more or less by the rust, except the new wheat. 
