THE CULTIVATOR. 
ous weeds; in many other cases it produced no sensible effect, par¬ 
ticularly in enriching the soil. The quantities that have been ex¬ 
perimented with have varied from four to forty bushels the acre; 
and the kinds have also been different—some using refuse and 
others pure salt. The first is considered about halt the strength 
of the latter. On the application of forty bushels of pure salt to 
the acre, vegetation ceased; one-half of this quantity destroys 
slugs and insects in the soil. From the great mass of testimony ex¬ 
amined, the editors come to the conclusion, 
“That nothing decisive has been ascertained regarding either 
the quantity or the season in w T hich salt should bo laid upon the 
land. It appears, however, that its effects are most visible and sa¬ 
tisfactory when applied to hot dry soils, and in very warm sum¬ 
mers; but on cold wet land, and in rainy seasons or under a hu¬ 
mid climate, its powers seem to become neutralized, and of little 
value. We are of opinion that, on arable land, it will be found 
more advisable to lay it on before sowing, than either with the 
seeds, or afterwards as a top-dressing. If applied, for instance, to 
a clover lay, either a few weeks before seed time, or immediately 
after the first crop is off, it would effectually banish the slug ; and 
it has been justly observed, that if all stubbles (not laid down with 
seeds) were to receive a slight dressing of salt before winter, it 
would not only tend to keep the land free from the slug, but pro¬ 
bably otherwise benefit the soil.”—p. 387. 
The quantity of pure salt recommended on the acre, is from four 
to sixteen bushels. The best way of applying it is in the form of 
composts. It is mixed with earih, or with earth and lime, the mass 
turned occasionally and incorporated, till the salt has mostly dis¬ 
solved, and then applied generally as a top-dressing. Hollings- 
head, who has published a volume of facts in favor of using salt, says 
a slight annual application will keep the land in a state of the 
greatest fertility. When a large quantity has been put on it has 
destroyed vegetation for a time; but afterwards, when the salt has 
been well dissolved and mixed with the soil, the land becomes very 
rich. This latter opinion is confirmed by Von Thaer, the principal 
of the great Prussian Agricultural School, and the first authority, 
who also says, that on rich land, when spread in small quantities, 
it produces, very sensibly, favorable effects, though of short dura¬ 
tion ; but if laid upon a poor soil, in an equal quantity, it has been 
found wholly ineffectual. 
We have not introduced these remarks with a view of recom¬ 
mending the use of salt in our agriculture; for we deem the ex¬ 
pense too great, and the benefits too precarious, for our present 
practice; but our object is rather to furnish useful hints, suggest¬ 
ed by the experience of others, to those who may choose to expe¬ 
riment with it. 
Nitre or Salt Pelre. —Numerous experiments are detailed, in the 
work from which we quote, of the effects of nitre in husbandry. It 
is applied in quantities of 1 cwt. to 1) cwt. per acre, as a top-dress¬ 
ing, on most soils, and has been found to be highly beneficial to 
wheat, oat and grass crops. Its benefits are greatest upon clays 
and stiff' loams. It is said to prove destructive to wire-worms, 
slugs and other insects. We are furnished with no data to decide 
whether its benefits have been equal to the cost. The price of 
crude India salt petre, on the sea-board, is six to eight dollars per 
hundred weight. 
Bones , Horns , <Sfc. —Bones are in great demand, in Great Britain, 
as a manure ; ana great quantities are annually imported into that 
kingdom, from the continent, for this use. They are broken in 
mills constructed for the purpose, and often upon the farm, by the 
laborers. Bone dust ordinarily sells at about 2s. or 44 cents, and 
sometimes as high as 3s. 6d. per bushel; and at this price it is ge¬ 
nerally found to be a more profitable application than common 
dung. Bones are frequently applied, and by many preferred, when 
broken in half or three-quarter inch pieces, and sometimes when 
of larger size. Their durability is in proportion to their size ; the 
smaller they are crushed or ground, the sooner their fertilizing 
properties are exhausted—and the less the quantity required to be 
applied. They have been applied in various proportions; though 
the ordinary dressing is from twenty to forty bushels per acre; a 
heavy dressing does not produce corresponding benefits, and in 
most cases, no additional benefit. Two bushels of crushed bones 
are deemed equal to a load or ton of manure. The uncrushed 
bones are sold at about 42s or from nine to ten dollars the ton. 
Their quality is not considered to be impaired by their having been 
boiled. Bones are applied as a top-dressing to grass, and harrow¬ 
91 
ed in with the grain m tillage crops. The following results are 
selected from a great many, to illustrate the benefit and economy 
ol bone manure. 
On the estate of Garrowby in Yorkshire, the crops of turnips had 
dwindled to nothing; by the application of 12 to 20 bushels bone 
dust per acre, in drills, the crops have become excellent, and the 
following crops are very considerably improved. 
At Clumber Park, 600 bushels, spread upon twenty-four acres of 
pasture, a dry, sandy and gravelly soilj doubled the product, in but¬ 
ter, of the cows pastured upon it, over those fed upon pasture not 
boned. 
Mr, Watson, of Riellor, applied twenty-five bushels of bones to 
an acre of turnips, and twenty-five loads of manure to an adjoining 
acre. The dunged acre yielded twenty-two tons; that dressed 
with bones twenty-eight tons. 
Mr. Graburn manured part of a field with crushed bones, at the 
rate of thirty bushels the acre, and anoth er part with eight loads 
of dung, and repeated the dung the two following years upon this 
part. The turnips, wheat and grass, which constituted the three 
crops, were better upon the part once boned, than upon that thrice 
dunged. 
Thirty-four acres of sandy soil, on the estate of Sir Charles 
Thockmorton, were half manured with bones and half with dung. 
The first gave the earliest and best turnips; the barley which fol¬ 
lowed yielded five bushels the acre more than the dunged part, and 
the clover was also heavier upon the boned part. 
Capt. Ogilvie applied bone dust at the rate of 15 to 20 bushels 
the acre, to a light sandy loam, and after the experience of five 
years upon a series of trials, he found all the successive crops of 
turnips, barley and grass, decidedly superior to those which had 
been previously produced by other manure. 
Twenty bushels of bone dust, at 2s. Gd. would be 50s; twenty 
loads manure at 10s. the price given in the statements, would 
amount to 200s. which shows a saving of three-fourths in manuring 
an acre with those substances, at the assumed prices, and in the 
assumed quantities. 
The two following cases, taken from the Doncaster report, are 
worthy particular notice ; 
“ 1. On a field, part of which was boned forty years ago, the 
crops were, on that part, during fifteen or sixteen succeeding years, 
visibly better than the remainder, although the land was all of the 
same quality, and the part not boned was manured with barn-yard 
dung. 
“2. In another case, about three acres of light sandy land were 
dressed, in 1814, with 150 bushels of bones per acre ; since which 
time the land is said never to have forgotten it, but is nearly as 
good again as the other part, farmed precisely in the same way, 
with the exception of the one application of bones.” 
As to the size in which bones are most profitably applied, one of 
the Doncaster association remarks—“ That if he meant to till for 
early profit, and if he wished to keep his land in good heart, he 
would use half inch bones ; and, in breaking these, he should prefer 
some remaining considerably larger : that by using bones of a large 
size with dust in them, there must be sufficient of the small parti¬ 
cles of the dust to set the turnip crop forward, and sufficient of the 
large particles of the bone lelt to maintain the land in good condi¬ 
tion for the subsequent crop. 
Bones are found on analysis to contain, in 100 parts, 40 of earthy 
and saline matter, 40 of cartilage and jelly, and 20 of fatty matter. 
The soft parts thus form, in the best bone about sixty, and upon an 
average about fifty per cent, which are almost entirely constituted 
of the same elements as plants, and all of them, sooner or later, 
liable to be dissolved and absorbed by the roots. 
Bones should undergo a partial fermentation before they are ap¬ 
plied, in order to produce the best immediate effect. This is done 
by mixing them with yard manure, or with manure and earth. 
They have also been mixed and applied with coal ashes with effect 
and economy. 
The Doncaster Agricultural Association, after long experience 
in the use of bones, have published rules for its application, from 
which it appears, 
That on dry sands, limestone, chalk, light loams, and peat, bones 
are a very highly valuable manure. 
That they may be applied to grass with great good effect. 
That on arable lands they may be laid on fallow for turnips, or 
used for any of the subsequent crops. 
