“to improve the soil and the mind.” 
New Series. ALBANY, MARCH, 1850. Vol. VII.—No. 3. 
Neglected Manures—Bones, 
Analytical Laboratory, Yale College, 1 
New-Haven , Conn., Feb. 7, 1850.) 
Messrs. Editors— Having now called attention 
to some of the leading differences in the constitu¬ 
tion of manures, and to the substances which are 
most valuable in them, I shall proceed to mention 
particular instances in the various classes named. 
The extent to which fertilizers of every descrip¬ 
tion are wasted in this country, is exceedingly 
great; if the value of all that is thus lost in one 
year eould in any way be accurately ascertained, 
even over a comparatively small district, the ag¬ 
gregate amount would be found quite astonishing. 
Many farmers do not save much more than half of 
their farm-yard manure, permitting all of the urine 
and the drainings to be washed away by rains; of 
those who do endeavor to preserve their yard ma¬ 
nure in the best possible state, there are many who 
neglect means of fertilizing their soils that are far 
more powerful. We often see those who buy gua¬ 
no, poudrette, &c., at high prices, and yet pass by 
'quite as valuable manures that they might obtain 
for little or nothing. 
I propose to specify and describe some of these 
neglected manures, and to explain some of the pro¬ 
perties which establish their value. 
One of the most common of all, and one that till late¬ 
ly has been almost entirely thrown away among us, 
•is found in bones. Though this manure is now gra¬ 
dually coming into use, in most districts its excel¬ 
lence is still almost unknown, and incalculably the 
greater part of our bones are either thrown away, 
used for manufacturing purposes, or exported to en¬ 
rich the soil of Great Britain. 
In urging the importance of bones as a manure, I 
shall first give some details relative to their compo¬ 
nent parts. The bones of animals, birds, and fishes, 
when dry, do not differ greatly in their composition, 
although their appearance is so different. Bones 
of animals, in their fresh state, contain from five to 
thirty per cent, of water, mingled with a little fat; 
those of fishes contain from 70 to 80 per cent, of 
water. When dry, the proportion of earthy matter 
in each is about the same. This dry bone is not, 
however, by any means all earthy matter; about 
one-third of it is an organic substance called car¬ 
tilage or gelatine. It is soluble in water, and may 
be for the greater part, extracted by boiling, form¬ 
ing common glue; this useful cement, the cartilage 
of bones, is an extremely nutritious and concentra¬ 
ted food. When obtained from clean bones, the so¬ 
lution evaporated, and seasoned so as to be pala¬ 
table, little cakes may be made which will keep un¬ 
changed for a long time; small portions of these 
will retain the strength of the body in a degree cor¬ 
responding to that derived from a full meal of ordi¬ 
nary food. When a strong heat is applied, this or¬ 
ganic matter disappears, and the bone is left per¬ 
fectly white, but not reduced in size. If a little 
muriatic acid be mingled with water, and a bone 
placed in it for a few days, the earthy matter will 
be dissolved out, the bon© being again left of full 
size, but now perfectly flexible, so that it may be 
bent liko a piece of rope. In this way, we can 
prove that the cartilage and the earthy part are 
each distributed through the whole bone. If it 
were all earthy matter, then it would be brittle and 
liable to snap by a sudden spring or blow; the car¬ 
tilage, however, imparts so much elasticity that, 
unless in cases of great violence, bones ordinarily 
resist uninjured the shocks to which they are expo¬ 
sed. 
This cartilage owes its remarkably nutritious 
properties to the large quantity of nitrogen which it 
contains. The 60 or 70 per cent, of earthy or mine¬ 
ral matter which remains after the separation of 
the cartilage, is composed chiefly of phosphoric 
acid, in combination with lime, forming what is call¬ 
ed, as mentioned in my last letter, phosphate of 
lime. Beside this, there are small quantities of 
carbonate of lime, (lime and carbonic acid,) car¬ 
bonate of magnesia, &o. Thus then, in 100 pounds 
of dry bones, there are about 35 pounds of carti¬ 
lage, 50 to 55 of phosphate of lime, and 10 to 15 
of carbonates of lime and magnesia. 
When it is considered that the cartilage is rich in 
nitrogen, and the phosphate of lime in phosphoric 
acid, we sec at once from what has been said as to 
the value of manures in a preceding letter, that 
bones must be remarkably fertilizing; in them we 
have the very requisites that were mentioned as the 
principal ones in all very powerful manures. 
Some writers have attempted to show that the be¬ 
neficial action of bones w T as due to the cartilage; 
others that it should be ascribed to the phosphates 
alone. I think that both are wrong, for the reason 
that each part contains substances in which most 
soils are deficient, and hence both are likely, in a 
majority of cases, to prove advantageous additions. 
One would suppose that as the cartilage is soluble, 
it would soon disappear, but this is not by any 
means the fact, for it seems to dissolve out very 
slowly under the earth’s surface. Berzelius tells of 
a soil in Sweden which had long been celebrated for 
its capacity of bearing grain. There seemed to be 
no reason why it should be so superior to other soils, 
but a close examination with a glass, discovered 
fine fragments of bone, and it was then remembered 
that this had been, according to tradition, an ancient 
battle field; the bones of the fallen warriors still 
continued to enrich its soil. When a quantity of 
these fragments of bones were collected and boiled, 
a thin jelly was obtained by dissolving out small 
portions of cartilage which thus remained in part, 
even after the lapse of so long a time, Both portions 
