The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-04-29
How to Use Bones.

Plant food is concentrated in bones
and most gardeners who make a bust.
ness of raising fruits and vegetables ap-
preciate their value. Tao great draw
back to their use is the difficulty of re-
ducing them to sufficient fineness, so that
plants may Immediately appropriate
them. If bone-mills were more COM
mon, and the adulteration of the ground
bone were less frequent, this excellent
fertilizer would be more commonly
used. Even without bone-mills there is
no need of wasting the bones, if one has
garden. We have applied them with
great profit in several ways. In tree
planting they are almost indispensable.
They can be had of village boys gener-
ally for about twenty-five to fifty cents a
barrel. They pick them up about the
streets, gardens, and aughter-houses,
the remnants of butchers meats sold to
families. This kind of bone is fine
enough to be put into borders for grape
vines and fruit-trees, and to bury under
old trees, without any preparation. A
bushel of these bones to a newly planted
tree is none too much, and one may
safely plant five bushels under a bearing
apple or pear-tree, or grapevine. So
large results will notfollow Immediately
from these coarse pieces as from the
ground article, or from superphosphate.
But there will be in the soil supply of
food for many years to come, and the
roots will appropriate it as thew have
need. The fine rootlets will seek the
bones as eagerly as they seek water in
q tile drain. We have frequently taken
up grape-vines planted in this way, ana
found the whole mass of bone, once
solid, penetrated with fine roots. We
doubt if any investment in fertilizers
pays better than in these bones from
butchers meat, which are quite plenti-
full in all our villages. Another method
of using them is with the preparation of
the hammer or stone sledge. This re-
quires some expenditure of muscle or of
money. The common bones are tough,
and require heavy blows to crush them.
Parts will be crushed quite fine and some
will remain in inch pieces. They may
be applied to the soil for all ordinary
crops, especially for turnips, in this
partly broken state, with profit. It is
still better, however, to reduce them to
, finer state, by fermentation in COM
post heap, or by treating with wood |
ashes. If they are put into cask and |
mixed with alternate layers of wood |
ashes, and kept moist, they will soon 20 |
10 pieces, and the fine mixture will have
) largo accession of potash and be made
more valuable and better adapted to
,rops that want good deal of potash.
e wood ashes are not convenient, the
zones may be fermented in q compost
reap with good garden soil. Put them
ntO any fermenting mass of vegetable
n animal matter, and the bones will add
o the heat and become very fine. After
he fermentation is over, the whole mass
hould be shoveled over, and Intimately
mixed, and it may be spread broadcast
r put in the hill as q concentrated
manure. This way is good enough, |,
hough it requires more time than the
eduction of bone by sulphuric acid,
1hich costs money, and requires more
aretul handling. We have used bones
4 all these methods, with great profit,
or thirty years, and expect to use them
1hile we eat the fruits of the garden.
lever throw away any of the bones
L'nerscan Ag,Sculturisf. ID
-WhitfAker ia ooinO IN 1ocf11rn