River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-04-04
GROUND ANIMAL BONE.
Its Values as Fertilizer Analysed at an
Eastern Experiment Station.

Its Values Fertilizer Analysed at an
Eastern Experiment station.
In the selection of ground bones fer
fertilizing purposes, farmers are in
clined to choose those articles which
are coarse in grain, that they may be
better able to detect impurities by
sight, and for this reason prefer a size
as large as shirt buttons rather than
the finer grades of bone meal, wherein
it is supposed authorizations can he
more successfully disguised. In crush
ing and grinding bones for the pur-
poses of agriculture their peculiar
structure prevents the particles from
assuming either globular or prismatic
shapes, as they invariably break up
into splinters, no matter how finely
they are ground, showing to the naked
eye, or under a microscope, a mass Of
Jagged edges totally dissimilar from
those of any mineral substances with
which they may be mixed. For this
reason all forms Of adulteration,
whether in the shape of gypsum.
quartz, sand or South Carolina rock,
can readily be detected by sight alone,
independent of chemical analysis.
At the Connecticut Agricultural sta
lion the mechanical condition Of bone
manures determines their comparative
values to a great extent, preference
being given to those most finely
ground. This is wise and fair treat
ment for both manufacturers and con.
sumers. and should be adopted by 9th
er States, for the farmer who wants a
quick and profitable return for his
money invested in animal-bone fertil-
izers should get the finest bone he car
obtain. instead of the coarsest. Even
taking it for granted that bonemeal il
absolutely pure and in the finest condi.
ton. the phosphOric acid represented
in it is not soluble, nor even available
for immediate crop food. The minutesl
fragment of bone in its natural state is
too bulky and indigestible for del
icate plants, and must be slowly de
composed by the action of acid and
other corrosive principles in the soil
before it can enter into vegetable life.
TO hasten this process Of decay, and
fit the atoms OF bone-dust for speedy
work, recourse is had by the manu-.
facturer to oil of vitriol, which un.
locks their stores of fertility, and
makes soluble the inert phOsphoriC
acid. Bones thus dissolved rs com
pared with bone-meal are as we'll
cooked provisions to raw, indigesti-
bic mass. One is assimilable and nu.
tritious, the other crude, and for the
time being unsatisfactory. The dis
solved bone acts quickly on grair
crops, and yet enough of it is left il
reserve which these crops do not take
up for the benefit Of grasses foI
years 10 come This is a point
frequently Inexperienced by farm
ers. There can be no loss il
properly dissolved bones by reason Of
any surplus wasted which the growing
crop. to which il has been applied, ha!
failed to utilize. Its condition. while
soluble, and ever ready as plant food
is such as to be impossible to incu
waste by volatilization, it simply wait
until the growing crop reaches out 70
necessary food. The intrinsic value o
pure dissolved bones is frequent,
made apparent as an ingredient in low
grade fertilizers. A few hundre'
pounds are introduced in a formuli
mainly composed of cheap materials
from the use Of which surprisingl!
good but very transitory results follow
Il is the little leaven Of dissolvet
bones which has quickened the mas
and given it the only vitality reall.
possessed. Philadelphia Record