BONE-MANURE. 
was written. Many other instances of enduring 
advantage might be given; and hundreds of in- 
stances of well-conducted and most interesting 
and successful experiments might be quoted ; but, 
in the present advanced and universally diffused 
state of information respecting the practical worth 
of bone-manure, any further appeal to SERNOMGE 
is altogether unnecessary. 
The mode in which bone-manure acts upon the 
soil and upon plants is an important topic of in- 
quiry ; but cannot be understood without allusion 
to the chemical analysis of bones. A rough but 
‘| common estimate of the constitution of the best 
kinds of bones employed in manure asserts them 
to consist of 40 per cent. of earthy and saline 
matter, 40 of cartilage and jelly, and 20 of fatty 
matter. But these proportions vary in different 
classes of animals, in individual animals at differ- 
ent ages, and in the same kind and age of bones 
in different states of preservation; and the spe- 
cific nature and normal amount of the earthy 
matters in any one variety of bones employed for 
manure require to be minutely noted. The bones 
of not a few genera and orders of animals differ 
most widely from one another, in the proportions 
of the very elements, such as the carbonate of 
lime and the phosphate of lime, which have either 
the most peculiar or the most powerful manurial 
action. For example, the quantity of carbonate 
of. lime which is combined in bones with every 
100 parts of phosphate of lime, is 2°52 in fish, 
2°63 in lions, 5°76 in frogs, 11°70 in fowls, 19°54 
in man, and 24:12 in sheep. The bones of very 
young animals are soft, and principally consist of 
cartilage, in which the earthy matters are after- 
wards gradually deposited ; and the bones of the 
same animals, when they attain maturity, possess 
a large proportion of both earthy and fatty mat- 
ters, but vary according to food, health, and 
habits. Spongy bones or bones of loose texture 
have a comparatively large proportion of vessels 
and consequently of organic matter; and com- 
pact bones are comparatively abundant in earthy 
phosphates. According to the mean of four ana- 
lyses of these two kinds of bones from the same 
animal, spongy bones contain 37°82 per cent. and 
compact bones 31:20 per cent. of organic mat- 
ter, spongy bones contain 50°81 per cent. and 
compact bones 59°10 per cent. of earthy phos- 
phates, and spongy bones contain 11:29 per cent. 
and compact bones 9°77 per cent. of carbonate of 
lime. Bones which have long been exposed to 
the air, whether on the open ground, or at such 
a small depth beneath the soil as to be accessible 
to atmospheric influence, are deprived of a large 
proportion of their original quantity of organic 
matter. Some bones of the bear which had been 
buried for an unknown length of time near the 
surface of the ground, yielded by analysis 4:20 
per cent. of organic matter, 62°11 of phosphate of 
lime, 13:24 of carbonate of lime, 12-25 of sulphate 
of lime, 2°12 of fluoride of calcium, 0°50 of phos- 
oxides of iron and manganese, and 1°34 of soda; 
and some bones of the bear which had lain buried 
for an unknown length of time at a considerable 
depth in the ground, yielded 16:24 per cent. of 
organic matter, 56:01 of phosphate of lime, 13:12 
of carbonate of lime, 7:14 of sulphate of lime, 1:96 
of fluoride of calcium, 0°3 of phosphate of mag- 
nesia, 2°15 of silicic acid, 2:0 of oxides of iron and 
manganese, and 1:08 of soda. The analysis of 
human bones has been conducted far oftener and 
with greater care than that of any other kind of 
bones; and therefore deserves to be noted in 
connexion with our present subject. The thigh 
bone of an adult male, after being freed from 
periosteum and fat, and thoroughly dried, yielded 
27°23 per cent. of cartilage insoluble in muriatic 
acid, 5:02 of cartilage soluble in muriatic acid, 
1:01 of vessels, 52°26 of basic phosphate of lime, 
1:0 of fluoride of calcium, 10°21 of carbonate of 
lime, 1:05 of phosphate of magnesia, 0°92 of soda, 
0°25 of chloride of sodium, and 1°05 of oxides of 
iron and manganese, and loss. Most of the bones 
employed in manure are those of phytivorous 
animals, and in consequence contain consider- 
able proportions of carbonate of lime. 
The principal element in the manurial action 
of bones is the phosphate of lime. This salt is 
scarce in soils, sparingly dispersed, and speedily 
exhausted; and yet it is indispensable to the | 
vigorous growth of nearly all cultivated plants, 
and forms the principal stimulant to the vitality 
and power of several. The phosphate of lime, 
Dr. Thomson asserts to be “a constant ingredi- 
ent in plants;” and though it may be impercep- 
tible in some, and but barely traceable in many, 
it constitutes a very conspicuous ingredient in 
the inorganic or ashy part of not a few of the 
most valuable. 
the marsh-bean, in the Scotch pine, in rice, in 
fuci, in the quinquina of St. Domingo, in the pol- 
len of the date tree, and in the roots of the peony 
and the white water lily. 
told, “has detected it in the leaves of Phyto- 
lacca decandra, and in the bulbs of the orchis, or- 
nithogalum, and narcissus, under the form of 
needle-shaped crystals attached to the exterior of | 
the cells.” According to analyses by Saussure, 
Vauquelin, and some other eminent chemists, 
39°3 per cent. of it are contained in the ashes of 
the grain of oats, 44°5 in the ashes of the seeds 
of wheat, 46°5 in the ashes of bran, 32°5 in the 
ashes of the seeds of barley, 7°75 in the ashes of 
the chaff of barley, 6-2 in the ashes of the straw 
of wheat, 27:92 in the ashes of the seeds of 
vetches, 17°5 in the ashes of the seeds of pease 
22:5 in the ashes of the ripe plant of turnsole 
24:0 in the ashes of the leaves of oak, 4:5 in the 
ashes of the wood of oak, 4'5 in the ashes of the 
bark of oak, 13:0 in the ashes of the leaves of 
poplar, 16°75 in the ashes of the wood of poplar, 
23'0 in the ashes of the leaves of hazel, 35:0 in 
the ashes of the wood of hazel, 5°5 in the ashes 
phate of magnesia, 2:12 of silicic acid, 2 12 of 
Weert Se 
of the bark of hazel, 23:0 in the ashes of the wood 
483 
It is found in the pea-pod, in | 
“MM. Raspael,” we are | 
