Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1856-01-21

i CHEAP WAY OF DEcoMPosING BoNEs.-The
value of bones as manure, ground or pulver-
ized and more especially dissolved and form
ed into super phosphate Of lime is now Just be-
ginning to be appreciated by practical agricul-
turists in this country, as its beneficial Effects
upon root crops particularly, have come to be
known by experience.
Formerly, bones were only regarded among
us as a nuisance, to be thrown in the street,
or 70 be dumped into some hole, with the skel-
etons Of old tin pans and kettles, broken pots,
sc. and the carcasses of defuact COWS and
horses were carried away into some lonely
swamp, or distant place in TIE woods; and
not until they had been made an export, for
several years. from this country, by our Eng
lish brethren, did it occur to the American
cultiyator that old bones couldabe Of any nos
sible use
But when our good farmers began to feel
that the saving of manure was thing CT such
vast importance ard the barn cellar-as my
old grandfather used to say to his gardner
was their 'jegel box" then they began to
look around them forsmaterial and leaves.
sods, ashes, pond mud, peat Garth, oyster
shells, bones, &C., came in use to encourage
and aid a more enlightened, economical Jar
ming.
Yet still great obstacle in the way of the
more general use Of bones, is the expense and
difficulty attending their pulveration or de-
composition. However 9rudent farmer may
be, IN collecting and saving bones, skeletons
and carcasses, if there is no bone mill any,
where within dozen or twenty miles of him,
he Is no better off for manures than before
as it is well known that half a century may
pass over them in an unpulverize state, with
out very much of their nutritious qualities
being extracted, during such lapse of years
Again, the expense and laberious care Of de-
composing them, without sulphuric acid or
vitriol, especially to 0 majority offarmers, who
are not accustomed to such delicate Jobs as
handling sulphuric acid and making nice ex
pertinent with Observation-Disclosures the
mdss Of them from attempting to go into the
manufacture of "home-made super phosphate
Of lime"
Hence 1t becomes an important inquiry, es-
pecially as this manure if found to be % ex-
ceedingly valuable, whether some cheap and
easy way Of decomposing bones cannot be dis
covered Tor the benefit of the common farm.
Without abiding to other experiments, in
regard to dissolving bones in strong lye &c.,
that have been partially successful, propose,
here, to describe an experiment, made on a
small SCALE with bones and horse manure that
may lead many readers to still further expert
ments, and at length end in some important
practical result.
An intelligent neighbor of mine, Mr.. Ed
ward Willis, soap manuiaeturer-whose
father has taken great interest for many wears
Ill agriculture, especially i'll the application of
ashes to light worn out lands, and from whom
our great neighbor, the late Daniel Webster.
used to procure hundreds Of bushels of ashes
year for similar lands-recently made an ex-
pertinent ofthis kind. Taking quantity of
bones, none Of them perhaps larger, and most
Of them smaller than a mans two fists, he
made a good layer of fresh horse dung. on
which he placed layer OF bones, and so on to
the top, covering the heap over we'll with the
dung. 1t lay somewhat longer than he in
tended, and was allowed to become 10 some
degree fire fanged, but the 6snes acre utterly
decomposed disiHtegrated and dissolved. So
that the whole heap had become homogeneous
mass, and you could not detect any bones in it,
Why may not this manure be fully equal to
ground bones, be nearly or about as GOOD as
any Of the superphosphates? Mr.. Willis
thought in a further experiment, that he
should either manage to moisten the heap, or
else not allow the mixture to remain SO many
weeks undsturbed; and l suggested to him
the advantage OF covering over the whole mix
ture at the very commencement of such ex-
pertinent with charcoal. peat earth, plaster, or
some absorbent Of ammonia, and then after
the decomposition Of the bones had been eff
fected, to mix it in with the rest Of the heap.
Lave thus written ont an account Of this
experiment, so very successful as far as dis
solving the bones is concerned, as a matter of
suggestion to Others, and with the hope that
it would Induce some Of our practical farmers,
at time OF leisure, to try the same expert.
ment, and after they have made application Of
the manure thus manufactured, to give to
their blethern on account Of its fertilizing ef.
fects as compared with other composts.
4.