PREPARATION OF BONES FOR MANURE. 
93 
bushels to the acre, some planters barely mak¬ 
ing seed. This was owing to the drouth that 
almost desolated many places. 
Solon Robinson. 
Charleston , December 25th, 1850. 
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PREPARATION OF BONES FOR MANURE. 
There is great economy in reducing bones to 
as fine a condition as possible before applying 
them to the field. If added in their unprepared 
state, they will yield a portion of their sub¬ 
stance to the crops; but 100 bushels will pro¬ 
duce no more effect for a single season, when 
thus applied, than perhaps 5 or 6 bushels, when 
finely divided. If the 100 bushels, then, be 
ground or decomposed, and applied to 20 acres, 
we shall have an equal amount of benefit ac¬ 
cruing to each in a single season, that would be 
otherwise derived to the land for 20 successive 
years, if applied unground on a single acre. 
There are five modes of preparing bones, namely, 
grinding, burning, steaming, dissolving with 
sulphuric acid, and fermentation. 
Grinding is an expensive mode of reducing 
bones. Large and fresh bones are so hard and 
tough, that immense power is required for 
breaking and reducing them sufficiently for 
agricultural purposes. Costly mills of great 
strength and requiring considerable motive pow¬ 
er are necessary. Such an outlay can only be 
justified where a large quantity of bones are to 
be prepared. There are no small machines within 
our knowledge, adequate to the objects and 
adapted to the use of the small farmer. We 
cannot, therefore, advise a resort to this mode. 
Unless a mill is erected by some individual or 
company to grind for a neighborhood, or for a 
more distant market, we would advise the adop¬ 
tion of some one of the other modes of prepa¬ 
ration. 
Burning the bones is an economical and sum¬ 
mary mode of preparation, but is attended with 
the certain loss of much .of their valuable pro¬ 
perties ; the albuminous or nitrogenised, and the 
oily or fatty matters, amounting to about one 
third of the total of fresh bone. These matters 
are all useful as manure; but with the exception 
of the nitrogen, are not essential to be applied 
to the land. About two thirds of the bone, the 
earthy portion, remain afier burning. This 
consists of about 80 per cent, of phosphate of 
lime; 16 percent, of carbonate of lime; 2 or 
3 per cent, of phosphate of magnesia, and nearly 
equal proportions of soda and common salt. All 
these are indispensable to vegetable growth, 
and unless the soil is previously saturated with 
them, they cannot fail of adding greatly to the 
crops. The bones, by this process, are reduced 
to their finest condition, and thus readily yield 
their substance to the roots. 
Steaming bones has lately been adopted as a 
system in preparing them for the agriculturist. 
This is done by using a strong boiler with a 
false bottom inside, on which the bones are 
placed. Water is then added so as partially to 
cover the bones and when converted into steam, 
it completely envelopes them, for 24 hours, at a 
pressure of 24 lbs. to the square inch, when they 
are reduced to an unresisting mass. We sub¬ 
join some particulars of this process from the 
London Farmers’ Herald. 
The boiler is circular, 6 feet long, and meas¬ 
ures 3 feet 4 inches in diameter. It is con¬ 
structed of the ordinary boiler plate, of i 
inch thick. In the front, the man hole, or door, 
is placed, 9 inches from the bottom, and 13^ 
from the top, and 12£ inches from each side. 
The man hole is closed, by a plate door, secured 
by wedges and screw bolts in the usual manner, 
upon a jointing of hempen gasket. Inside the 
boiler, a straight false bottom of sheet iron, on 
which the bones are placed, is fixed immmedi- 
ately below the man hole. Close upon the 
bottom of the boiler, a stop cock is placed, for 
the purpose of drawing off the liquid at the con¬ 
clusion of the process, if necessary. On a level 
with the false bottom, is placed a gauge cock, 
to show whether the water has risen or fallen 
to that level; about 10 inches above, a second 
or steam cock is fixed. A safety valve on the 
top of the boiler indicates the pressure of the 
steam, and secures the boiler from explosion. 
The water for steaming the bones is filled by a 
water cock at the top of the boiler. An extra 
steam cock is likewise placed at the top of the 
boiler, for the purpose of supplying steam for 
any other operation, as for steaming food, &c., 
when required. The boiler is set in mason work 
and lined with fire bricks, the length of the mason 
work being, 7 ft. 2 in. and 5 ft. 5 in. in height, 
the sides spreading out 13 inches from the boiler. 
The smoke of the fire passes off directly through 
the chimney, which is more than 15 feet in height 
Early in the morning, the boiler is filled with 
bones, through the man hole, and the door of the 
same is then fastened steam tight. To secure 
this, the gasket of hemp, which lies between 
the two metal surfaces of the boiler and the 
door, is smeared with a luting, made by moisten¬ 
ing oatmeal with boiling water, and working it 
by the hand into a stiff paste; the door is then 
replaced and screwed tight. This luting, which 
perhaps may just as well be made of common 
flour, answers perfectly the purpose, and is 
