The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-11-15
FARMERS READING.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES OF LIME.

fertilizers, and should be carefully
saved on every farm, and in every
city and village, for the enriching of
the lands of the country. Their com
position chemically is as follows: In
one hundred parts there are of earthly
matter sixty-siX, of organic matter
thirty-four. The earthly part consists
of phosphate of lime, and the animal
or organic matter is a substance
called qeldtine or glue. Both of
these are fine manures, indeed the
very richest. The bone is unatail-
able. however, until it is decomposed,
and but few know how to effect this.
When ground to, powder, the COM
bined action of air and moisture and
earth will effect this object; but the
grinding is difficult matter, and in
wolves considerable expense to pre-
pare for it. Undoubtedly the best
and cheapest form of bone fertilizer
is what is termed superphoSphote of
lime (sulphuric acid and raw bone).
This substance is manufactured and
I.sold widely, and, where you can rely
on its purity, we most heartily recon-
mend it to our readers
We feel like giving our readers a
simple recipe, and if they choose to
do so they can manufacture it for
themselves. Take 100pounds of bones,
break them as fine as you can with
hammer, put them into a two bushel
tub; to fifty pounds sulphuric acid,
add twice its bulk In water. pour one
third of this over the bones, and let
it stand twenty-four hours, stirring
occasionally; add one third more of
the dilute acid, and let it stand an
other day and night, and on the third
day add the remainder of the acid,
stirring occasionally until the bones
are dissolved, which will not usually
require more than another day. Mix
this with any good absorbing compost
or finely pulverized manure sufficient
to take it up and hold it In a solid
form. The water will evaporate, and
leave the mass dry and crumbly. You
now have some five hundred pounds
of the most powerful manure known.
The cost will be, for bones, say one
dollar, sulphuric acid, from three to
four dollars, and your trouble, which
we are not prepared to estimate accu
rately. Those unacquainted with
| chemistry may fear that the acid will
destroy the properties of the bones,
we assure you, however, that it simply
dissolves the lime and leaves the car
tilage or glue unhurt, and in the same
form as before, until it is stirred up.
Remove a bone from the acid after a
day or two, and it will be the same
size and form, but soft and flexible, a
mass of jelly.-Northa0estero Farmer.
pprcPpvTNc c4ppAGFs
The following mode of putting up
cabbages for Winter and Spring use,
which we know by experience to be a
good way, we copy from that most
valuable work, Gardening for Profit,
a work which every farmer should
have.
s9Cabbages are preserved very SIM
ply; they are left out as late as they
can be pulled up by the roots-in this
| section about the end of November
they are then pulled up, the heads
fpacked close together In beds six feet
wide, with six feet alleys between,
| care being taken to have the ground
| leveled where the cabbages are placed,
/ so that they pack nicely They are
| left In this way for two or three
| weeks, or as long as the ground can
| be dug between the alleys, the earth
i from which is thrown in the beds of
! cabbage, so that when finished, they
| have a covering of four or six inches
i of SOIL. This is not enough to cover
i the root, however, which is left partly
exposed, but this is in no way lnjuri-
Gus. Some prefer to cover them up
at once by blowing furrow, shovel
ling it out wide enough to receive the
heads of the cabbages, and then turn
the soil in on the heads, and so con-
tinuing until the beds of six or eight
fleet are thus formed. This plan is
rather more expeditions than the for
mer. but it has the disadvantage OF
compelling them to be covered up at
once by soil, while the other plan de-
laws it two or three weeks later, and
it is of the utmost importance in pre-
serving vegetables that the operation
(particularly the final covering) be
n DELAYED as late in the season as frost
4 will permit Generally more are lost
by beginning too soon than delaying
too late. Onions, we find, are best
preserved In barn or stable loft, IL
layers from eight to ten inches deep
covered UP with about a foot of hay
or stray on the approach of severe
frosts. The great points to be OBJ
tanned are low temperature and ;
dry atmosphere; they will bear TWEEN
ty degrees of frost without injury
r provided they are not moved while
frozen, but they will not stand reduc
ton of temperature much lower thar
this without injury"
PREPARE TO. SHELTER THE STOCK.
. In the West the drought has Gu
! the crop of fodder and hay short, anC