82 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Juny, 1898. 
A simple plan is to pack the bones layer by layer, with freshly calcined 
wood ashes, in a barrel, and keep the mixture moistened for some months. 
Casks may be kept in constant use for this purpose on a farm, receiving every 
few days a fresh layer of bones and of ashes. 
A quicker method is to boil the bones in an iron or copper boiler together 
with strong caustic lye. The proportions of bones and lye to be used are not 
exact or invariable. Roughly speaking, five parts by weight of caustic soda, 
or seven parts by weight of caustic potash, dissolved in fifteen parts by weight 
of water, should disintegrate about fifteen parts by weight of bones by two or 
three hours’ boiling. 
If the bones be allowed to remain in the caustic liquor, even without 
boiling, they will, in the course of a week or so, become disintegrated. 
Another method of softening bones is by mixing in heaps with quicklime 
and loam. A layer of loam 4 inches deep is made, and on this is placed a layer 
about 6 inches deep of bones, and above this a layer 3 inches deep of quicklime. 
The layers of loam, bones, and lime are repeated in succession until the heap 
reaches a convenient height, when it is finally covered with a thick layer of 
earth. Holes are then bored in the heap from the top, and water poured down 
them to slake the lime. ‘The mass will become hot, and remain so for two or 
three months, after which the bones will be friable, and the whole heap may be 
mixed up, and is ready for the ground.— Adelaide Observer. 
DANGER IN TINNED FRUIT. 
Oven a tin of peaches, apricots, cherries, or other fruit—for all fruit is 
acidulous—let it stand for some time, and the fruit acids and the tin are ready 
to do their work of poisoning. A chemical knowledge that tells just how the 
dangerous compound is created is unnecessary to an avoidance of the peril. 
The rule to follow is never to make lemonade or other acidulated drinks in a 
tin receptacle, nor allow them to stand in such a vessel; and in the case of 
tinned fruits or fish, immediately upon opening the tin turn the contents out 
upon an earthenware plate, or into a dish that is made of earthenware or glass. 
Fruits in hermetically sealed tins, if properly prepared, germinate no poison. 
As soon as opened, the action of the acid on the tin, with the aid of the 
atmosphere, begins, and in a short time the result is deadly poison. This brief 
treatment of the question should be remembered by everyone, and its instruc- 
tions followed. 
CURE OF MANGE IN HORSES. 
In Vol. JI., Part 8, of the Journal we gave a simple recipe for mange in horses. — 
We have since been informed by Major Moore, police magistrate at Warwick, 
that the recipe is an excellent one, as he applied it to a horse of his own, which 
was badly affected, with the result that all sign of mange has disappeared. 
People often fail in curing diseases of domestic animals, because they either 
apply remedies intermittently or they take no care to give the animal the 
necessary protection from weather and rest from work whilst under treatment. 
We shall be pleased to hear of other cases of cure. 
AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL SHOWS. 
Tne Editor will be glad if the secretaries of Agricultural and other Societies 
will, as early as possible after the fixture of their respective shows, notify him 
of the date, and also of any change in date which may have been decided on. 
