in Tasmanian Agriculture . 407 
have come to the anomaly, that while we have numerous flocks 
and herds, we have little eatable meat. 
The remedy for this state of things consists in adapting the 
number of our flocks to the limits of our pastures ; and to do 
this, two courses should be steadily pursued, namely, to diminish 
one while we increase the productiveness of the other—in doing 
the last we in fact do both, as we thereby may render some of 
our surplus stock fit for the market, and thus obtain a ready 
sale. In this manner the two effects would work together to 
the furtherance of both, while the final effect would be an 
increased yet not superabundant amount of stock. This very 
desirable state of things can only be procured by an alternate 
system of* husbandry, growing green crops alternately with 
grain, and thus not merely not exhausting the ground, as by the 
present too common mode, but actually, by the amount of 
manure formed, increasing its productive powers. 
In England this is so much the case, that lands formerly 
considered barren, have been brought into the highest state of 
fertility by the system of alternate husbandry. This‘lias been 
much advanced of late years by the application of bone as 
manure, the effects of which on different kinds of land have 
been thus stated by an English paper, the perusal of which 
recalled to our memory the idea of writing on the present 
subject, one which has long occupied our attention:— 
" Bones, which nre now become a very important manure, are composed 
of phosphate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, and about one half decom¬ 
posable animal matter. They ure less beneficial on clay lands than on lighter 
soils, and less In wet than in dry seasons. Bone dust is coming into very 
general use in the country, and mills for crushing them are erected in several 
places. There has been no improvement in Scottish husbandry so universally 
adopted as that of applying bone dust to land intended for turnips, and it 
seems better adapted than any manure hitherto tried for bringing waste lands 
into cultivation—one waggon load of 100 bushels being found equal to 40 
cart loads of farm yard manure. Ou pastoral farms it will be found ex¬ 
ceedingly useful, as, raising a better crop of turnips, it will greatly improve 
the condition of the stock .”—Exeter Flying Post . 
In this country the application of bone dust would be at¬ 
tended with multiplied advantages—before enumerating which, 
we shall try to account in some degree for its almost incredible 
effects. 
Startling as it may appear, the constitution of all soils is 
nearly similar as far as the final elements, and the granite rock 
wants but decomposition, and the addition of a very trifling 
amount of other ingredients, to become a fertile soil. A proof 
of this may be observed in any common rock where soil could 
not be conveyed by natural causes, and where when accumulated 
it cannot be washed away. Air and water first act on the 
surface and produce a separation of its parts; mosses, and like 
plants suited to this imperfect soil, grow and decay, their matter 
becomes mixed with that previously existing, and a better 
description of soil, fitted to more perfect forms of vegetable life, 
