250  ON  NASCENT  MANURES. 
lime  and  magnesia.  Now,  it  is  manifest  if  10,  or  even  30  bush- 
els of  dissolved  bones  were  applied  to  the  acre,  the  first  rain  would 
convert  all  of  the  free  phosphoric  acid,  or  bi-phosphates  that  they 
contain,  into  neutral  nascent  sub-phosphates  ;  and  it  is,  therefore, 
nascent  sub-phosphate  of  lime,  that  is  taken  up  and  assimilated  by 
the  plant.  Thus,  we  are  enabled  to  account  for  the  wonderful  ef- 
fects of  what  are  called  in  commerce,  bi-phosphates,  which  really 
contain  very  little  free  phosphoric  acid,  but  all  of  the  phosphoric 
acid  exists  as  neutral  nascent  phosphate  of  lime. 
The  fact  is,  that  dissolved  bones  are  unmanageable  as  a  manure 
in  this  country,  [in  England  bi-phosphates  are  applied  in  solu- 
tion,] until  reduced  from  a  fluid  to  the  form  of  a  powder,  by  the 
means  of  ivory  black,  guano,  or  some  less  valuable  diluent;  and 
the  universal  distribution  of  carbonate  of  lime,  etc.  in  these,  con- 
verts nearly  all  of  the  bi-phosphates  into  neutral  nascent  phos- 
phates or  sub-phosphates.  During  the  past  summer,  I  have  been 
experimenting  on  two  separate  fields,  with  four  of  these  com- 
pounds, two  of  which  were  made  in  New  York,  and  two  in  Balti- 
more ;  the  most  remarkable  results  were  obtained  from  experi- 
ments made  upon  a  few  hills  of  corn.  But  I  will  confine  my 
statement  to  two  series,  where  whole  rows  of  shocks  were  com- 
pared with  contiguous  unmanured  rows  ;  the  average  of  23  shocks, 
each  shock  representing  64  hills,  exhibited  a  difference  of  about 
25  per  cent ;  or  the  manured  42  lbs.  per  shock  ;  and  these  man- 
ures were  applied  in  my  presence,  at  the  rate  of  ten  bushels  per 
acre  broadcast,  and  I  gathered  and  weighed  the  corn  in  the  field 
myself. 
Now,  it  is  most  probable  that  no  atom  of  free  phosphoric  acid, 
or  bi-phosphate  of  lime,  ever  enters  the  rootlet  of  a  plant  without 
destroying  it ;  and,  having  proved  that  a  solution  of  bones  would 
necessarily  become  precipitated  in  contact  with  any  soil,  we  are 
driven  to  the  conclusion  that  this  precipitate  or  nascent  sub-phos- 
phate is  the  valuable  manure?  and  we  take  it  for  granted  that  it 
will  preserve  the  nascent  form  for  some  time  in  moist  situations, 
as  we  know  that  moist  oxide  of  iron  will  continue  to  preserve  this 
form,  as  the  antidote  for  arsenic,  for  weeks  together.  Ultimately, 
however,  it  also  loses  the  nascent  and  assumes  the  normal  form, 
and  becomes  so  insoluble,  that  five  times  the  dose  is  required,  in 
order  to  afford  the  soluble  material  for  the  same  proportion  of  ar- 
