, 1861-09-12
AgficpItufs.
Reducing Bones to Powder.

Reducing Bones to Powder.
A great obstacle to the use Of bones as a
fertilizer arises from the difficulty of re.
dueing them to . condition in which they
are readily applied and rendered imne-
diatcly available to the plant Bone mills
are costly, aud require considerable power (;
the oil Of vitriOl or other Chemicals are not
ALWAYS accessible to the farmer. The fol.
loving process neccssitates neither Of these
alternatives, and calls for no money outlay,
except it be for labor. Il is said to have
been first communicated to the agricultural
public Of England by Mr.. Pusey, aud PrOf.
s. W. Johnston, Of the Yale Analytical
laboratory, has now published il, for the
benefit Of our farmers who do not quite know
how TO use their bOnes:-
~The process depends upon the fact that
bones consist, 20 the amount Of one.thiTd
their weight, of cartilage or animal matter,
which, under the inAaence Of warmth or
moisture, readily decomPOses (ferme: Is or
decays) and loses Is fixture, 50 that the
bones fall to dust. From the clOseness and
solidity Of the bony structure, decay is ex-
cited and maintained with some difficulty.
A single bone or a heap of bones never
decay alone, but dry and harden on expos
ure. It. however, bones in quantity be
brought into close contact with sOIne easily
feimentabie, moist substance, but little time
elapses before decay sets in.
$50, too, if fresh crushed bones are
mixed with sand soil, or any powdery mat
ter that ellis up the spaces between the frag-
ments Of the bone and makes the heap COM
pact and then are moistened with pure
water, the same result takes place in warm
weather, though more slowly. The practi-
cal process may be as follows: The bones,
If whole, should be broken up as far as con.
venient by 4 single sledge hammer, and
made into alternate layers Of sand, loan,
saw-dust leached ashes, coal ashes, orswamp
muck, using just enough Of any one Of these
materials 70 Gil cOInpacily the cavities
among the bones, but hardly more. Begin
with a thick layer Of earth or muck, and as
the pile Is raised, pour on stale urine or
dungheap liquor enough to moisten the
whole mass thoroughly, and finally cover
foot thick with soil or muck.
~ln warm weather the decomposition
goes on at once, and in from two TO siK or
more weeks the bones will have entirely
disappeared. II the fermentation should
spend itself without reducing the bones
sufficiently, the heap may be overhauled and
built up again, moistening with liquid man.
ure and covering as before. BY thrusting a
pole or bar into the heap, the progress Of
decomposition may be traced from the hea'
and odor evolved. Should the heap be-
come heated to the surface, 50 that the am.
nionia escapes, as may be judged by the
smell, It may be covered still more thickly
with earth or muck. The larger the heap
the finer the bones, and the mere stale urine
or dungliquor they have been made 10 ab
sorb, The m0rs rapid and complete will be
he disinbgrniion. In these heaps, horse
dung or other manure may replace the ashes,
etc. but earth or muck should be used 10
cover TIE hesp.
This bone compost contains the phos-
plates Of lime in a finely divided state, and
the nitrogen Of the cartilage which has
mostly passed into ammonia or niirates, Is
retained perfectly by the absorbent earth or
muck. When carefully prepared, this man.
ure Is adapted TO be delivered from drill
machine with seeds, aud, according to Eng
liuh hnners, fully replaces in neatly every
case the superphOsphate made by tho help
of oil Of vitriol.