The record-union., 1891-07-29
FARM And ORCHARD.
Bones and Ashes-How to Make
a Good Fertilizer.
Cheap Resefvoirs-Fruit Farmers In
The Flesh of the Sheep-Turpentine

Notes.
A collection of the bones usually wasted
on a farm, as well as the careful saving of
bones, will give quite large amount of
valuable fertilizer, an estimate of the
quantity being easily made by reference
to the meat bin for the year, allowing for
a fair proportion of bone. But few farm
ers save their bones, owing to the diff
Guilty of reducing them. 1t is easier to
make superphosphate of the bones than
1t is to grind them, unless one has mill
for the purpose, and il is probably cheaper
to buy ground bone or superphosphate
than to buy bones with a view of reduc-
ing them, but there is no reason why the
farmer should not utilize all bone that
may be III his possession, which work
may be done at some time when he is not
busy in other directions.
The mode of manufacturing superphoS-
phate is to treat 100 pounds of bone with
forty pounds of cheap sulphuric acid (oil
of vitrioD. This is done by placing the
bones in any vessel that serves the pur-
pose, a frame such as Is used for mixing
mortar being best. The finer the bone
the more easily the work, but the acid
viii reduce pieces as large as walnut.
AS the work is more or less dangerous,
from injudicious handling of the acid,
most farmers prefer not to attempt the
method. BY this process the nitrogen of
the bones is also combined with the acid,
mostly in the shape of sulphate of am
monia. Bones, which are insOluble phos-
phate of lime. are changed to sulphate of
lime (plaster) and phosphoric acid, which
being liberated from the lime of the bones,
becomes free, and therefore in q soluble
form for the use of plants.
An excellent mode of preparing bones,
and which avoids danger, though by q
slower process, is to place layer of ashes
in box or barrel, then layer Of bones
(Which may be coarse), filling the spaces
with ashes, and alternating the layers of
bones and ashes until the barrel is full,
dampening the mass from time to time
while arranging the layers. A small pro-
portion of urine added viii be of advan-
tage in fastening decomposition of the
bones. The mass should be kept damp
mot wet, and III a short time, accord
ing to the temperature of the atmosphere,
the bones will become soft and Of pasty
consistency, a chemical change having oc-
Cured; and the fertilizer SO prepared will
be valuable both for it's phosphoric acid
and its potash; but the generation of heat
in the mass will cause loss of portion
of the heterogeneous matter of the bones
This simple method will enable the
farmer to save the bones that are usually
wasted, but to secure q sufficiency for his
crops he should also purchase ground
bone or superphosphate from other
sources.-Philadelph Record.
CHEAP RESERVOIRS.
Mr.. G.. L. Durham claims that the
cheapest reservoirs that man can build
on his land for retaining water for irriga-
ton purposes is a tunnel run into a hill,
says the Oroville Register. An open
reservoir in canyon or other suitable
place will lose one-third of its water
during the summer from evaporation,
while in a tunnel there is no loss. A
small spring will supply a tunnel with
sufficient water for many purposes. He
has illustrated this in practical manner.
On his own land at Mesilla Valley he ran
a tunnel thirty-tive feet long into hill,
and in SO doing tapped a spring. The
tunnel he damned up, leaving space
thirty-five feet long and the size of the
tunnel, which is about five feet by six
feet, TO be filled with water. The water
he carried TO his house in pipes, and we
observed that it supplied his dwelling,
another near by, his barn and drying
house for raisins, as well as irripatinp
quite a space devoted to flowers for a
garden. He says that the tunnel is the
cheapest and best form, and that for each
dollar expended one can obtain space
equal to twenty-five cubic feet.
FRUIT FARMERS INVENTORIES.
Probably not a round dozen fruit farm
ers in the State ever make a faithful in
ventory of their property, and can only
guess at the amount of their actual re-
sources; and yet il is simple thing TO
set down each item in book, which will
cost twenty-five cents, and thus be able
to tell within few dollars at any time
just what the farm and its equipments
are worth. Not only the number of
trees of each variety, but all tools, vehi-
cles, machines, harnesses, horses, cows,
pigs, chickens, ETC., should be put down
ia the book at given date with their
values, and charged TO the farm; and
then all new tools, trees, seeds, ETC..
should be entered at the time of purchase.
while all sales of any kind should be
placed to the credit of the farm. Wages
paid hired help should be omitted from
the record, as well as the cost of repairs
on implements, tools, etc. One of the
girls or boys could be put in charge of
this business, and it would serve a good
educational purpose. Even an imperfect
record is better than none at ALL Once
fairly begun it will in time grow into a.
habit. and a system will be the result It
is certainly worth while to try it.-Cali-
fornia Fruit-Grower.
CHOOSING MUTTON SHIP.
In choosing mutton sheep, either to
are some principles that can be laid down
as true and applicable in almost all cases.
The easy feeder must be of the thick,
blocky sort, for daylight that shines
under sheep, hog or steer can never be
made into meat, and the possessor of long
legs rarely makes good feeder The
ribs should be well sprung, so as to give
a broad, straight back from shoulder to
hip, upon which good, high-priced meat
can be placed with judicious feeding.
The hips should be carried out on a line
with the back to the tail, keeping a good
width all the way, and should be we'll
filled at the thigh or twist, while the
foreleg should be well filled with meat
above the knee. In short the carcass
should be plump and full throughout its
whole length. Constitution and healthy
condition are all-important, and are
shown by large bright, clear eye-one
that is not yellow, bloodshot or watery:
q sprightly, active step as the animal
moves along; a short, thick neck that
tapers gradually from shoulders to head
and is full and muscular on top so the
head is carried well up with or above the
top OF the shoulders; wide, deep chest
and heart-girth, giving room for large
lungs and heart, and rich, pink skin
With all these points we'll developed and
a large abdomen, TO give plenty of room
for tho consumption and digestion of
food, you have sheep, that with proper
food, given at regular times and in a
proper manner, will yield profitable re-
turns to the feeder and give satisfaction
to the shipper, butcher and consumer,
making all better for having owned him
George McKerrow.
THE FLESH OF THE SHEEP.
The best medical authorities claim that