HUS BAN DR Y. 
560 
them, is to break them with a mill into pieces about the 
fize ofa marble or.nutmeg ; they are afterwards laid upon 
the field in finall heaps, at regular diltances, and covered 
with earth ; after remaining in this (late for fome’ time, 
they are fpread on fallows, on grafs, or on turnip-land. 
The conftituent parts of bones'are oil, alkaline falts, and 
animal earth, united by fixed air. The oil fis in much 
greater proportion than the alkali, which renders bones 
rather-a heavy manure. 
It does not appear that much pains is taken in adapt¬ 
ing them to the foil for which they feem bell calculated, 
being laid indifcriminately upon lands of every defcrip- 
tion, and for the moll part unmixed with any other fub- 
ltance. But bones, being kept together by fixed air, un- 
lefs they are either laid upon foils poffeffing principles 
that are capable of depriving them of this air, or have 
iomething of that kind previoufly mixed with them, the 
texture of their parts will remain unbroken, and they will 
be of little ufe. In Hertfordfhire however, they are found 
to be an excellent manure for clay-foils. 
To render bones ufeful, they Ihould be ground as finall 
as poflibie. At Sheffield it is a trade to grind bones for 
the farmer, who will give i6d. a bufliel, and fend fixteen 
miles for them. Some fubftance mult .then be mixed with 
them that is capable of diflodging the fixed air, and dif- 
uniting the -principles contained in the bone. For this 
purpofe nothing will be found fo ufeful as quick-lime. 
Where there is no opportunity of grinding them, they 
may be mixed.with lime in a heap, and will thus foon be 
reduced to powder. It is alfo a judicious practice to mix 
allies with them, a cart-load to thirty or forty bulhels of 
bones ;-turning the whole when it has heated twenty-four 
hours, it may be laid on ten days afterwards. 
Bones are fometimes burnt for the alhes ; in this opera¬ 
tion they are freed from the oil and mucilage, and are 
merely phofphoric acid united to lime or phofphat of lime; 
in this Hate they are merely a llimulating manure. In 
their unburnt Hate they are both nutritive and fiimulat- 
ing. Of all manures bone is perhaps the moll permanent. 
What is here laid of bone in its recent and burnt Hate, 
applies to horns, hoofs, wool, feathers, and hair; like 
bone they confilt of phofphat of lime, animal oil, and 
mucilage. 
When bones are ufed in their fimple (late, without the 
addition of earth or lime, they ought never to be laid upon 
any but the (harpell and moll active foils ; fuch as linte- 
Itone, chalk, or gravel ; upon all thefe they will meet with 
more or lefs calcareous earth, which will in fome degree 
difengage their fixed air, and diffolve the oil contained in 
them; but upon deep clays, tills, or loams, they Ihould 
never be applied in that. Hate. But, when made into a 
compolt, they may be applied with advantage ‘upon foils 
of every defcription, by laying it upon or near the furface, 
when the crop is in a growing Hate. Upon wheat it Ihould 
be ufed early in the fpring without harrowing; upon bar¬ 
ley and oats it may be harrowed in along with the grain. 
For drill-crops, fuch as turnips, beans, &c. they are par¬ 
ticularly convenient, as they admit of being put into the 
drill at the fame time with the feed, more readily than 
mod other manures. 
Dr. Hunter, of York, having laid down to grafs a large 
piece of very indifferent limefione-land with a crop of 
corn, feledted three roods, which he dreffed with bones 
broken very fimali, at the rate of fixty bulhels to the acre. 
The crop of corn was greatly fuperior to the reff. The 
grafs next year was alfo fuperior, and has prelerved the 
fame fuperiority ever fince, infomuch that in fpring it is 
green three weeks before the reft of the field. He dreffed 
two acres with bones in two different fields prepared for 
turnips, fixty bulhels to the acre, and found the turnips 
greatly fuperior to the others managed in the common 
way. He dreffed an acre of grafs-ground with bones in 
October, and roiled them in. The fucceeding crop of 
hay was an exceeding good one. However, lie found 
fiom repeated experience, upon grafs-ground, that this 
kind of manure exerts itfeff more powerfully the fecortd 
year than the firff. 
He recommends the bones to be bruifed by putting 
them under a circular Hone moved round upon its edge 
by means of a horle, in the manner that tanners grind their 
bark. To afeertain the comparative merit of ground and 
unground bones, he dreffed two acres of-turnips'with 
large bones in the fame field where the ground ones were 
ufed. The refillt of this experiment was, that the un¬ 
ground materials did not perform the leaff fervice, whillt 
thofe parts of the field on which the ground bones were 
.laid were greatly benefited. 
All kinds of bones will anfwer the purpofe of a rich 
dreffing, but thofe of fat cattle are the beff. The Lon¬ 
don bones are frequently boiled, and mult therefore be 
much inferior to fuch as retain their oily parts. Mr. 
Young however, in his experiments on manures, fays that 
the effeft of the London bones was fo very great, that he 
bought all he could get at 10s. 6d. a waggon-load of 
ninety-fix bulhels in London. With a dreffing of twenty- 
five cart-loads the crop was fuperior to that which had 
fifty. The land was a miferable foil, which with a fum- 
merffallow yielded but thirty bulhels of wheat; but with 
a moderate manuring of bones yielded fixty-three bulhels. 
On barley he obferves, that bones hold a moH decided fu¬ 
periority, and that, expenfive as they are, they pay very 
amply. 
Horns of every kind are an ufeful manure when cut into 
fmall pieces ; in their natural Hate they produce little ef¬ 
fect. The proportion proper to be employed varies with 
the fize of the chips or lhavings ; fewer being neceffary 
when fmall, but the effect of the larger are longer felt. If 
they are of a middling fize, about fixty Hone to an acre 
is a reafonable quantity. If more be ufed, the grain is 
apt to be too luxuriant, and too long in ripening ; it is 
alfo liable to be hurt by mildew. The fmall pieces are 
chiefly turners’ lhavings, are bought in London at 12s. or 
13s. the quarter, and are much the moH ufeful. The 
large ones are refufe pieces of horn, coll about as. lefs the 
quarter, and are generally ploughed in three months be¬ 
fore fowing wheat or barley. They both anfwer in mod 
foils and feafons, except very dry ones. 
Hoofs are of the fame nature with horn, and anfwer the 
fame purpofe. Hair is likewife ufed with much the fame 
effeft. Hog’s-hair is fometimes to be had in London at 
about 9s. the quarter. Wool cannot well be applied as 
manure in its native Hate ; but very well after it has been 
wrought into cloth. 
Feathers would be a good manure, if they could be had 
in any quantity. A field being ready for fowing wheat, 
one acre was manured with ten bulhels of old feathers 
procured from an uphollterer, ploughing them in as they 
were fpread ; the acre thus manured produced near forty- 
eight bulhels, and the other part of the field not twenty- 
eight bulhels on an average. 
Recent animal fubjlances, as blood, and the whole re¬ 
fufe of flaugnter-houfes, fhambles, &c. afford a very rich 
manure. Mixed with earth and freffi horfe-dung, they 
make a very rich compoff. Blood mixed with faw-duH 
makes a good land-dreffing to be fown upon wheat in the 
lpring. Blood is often recommended to be buried at the 
roots of fruit-trees. 
Putrid animal fubjlances are good manures if properly 
managed ; when ufed alone, they Ihould always be laid 
upon the moff adtive foils, fuch as chalk, lime-fione, &c. 
Upon ltrong clays or deep loams, they Ihould only be tiled 
in form of a compoH. The moll proper way of preparing 
them for ufe, is to mix them with chalk or quick-lime 5 
the mixture ffiould be laid in heaps of three or four cart¬ 
loads each, and covered with earth; after remaining in 
this Hate for eight or ten days, the heap Ihould be turned 
over, and ten cart-loads of earth added to each cart-load 
of the mixture. It Ihould then remain for a month in 
the heap, and then may be applied as 3 top-dreffing, or 
harrowed in with the feed. 
Fellmongcrs' 
