The Bossier banner., 1894-08-09
FARMER AND PLANTER.
BONES FOR FERTlLIZING.
Their Value In the Various Forms as Food
for Plant Growth.

1oI OIO"bh'
Bone meal is frst-class manure for
many purposes and for many crops.
Bones are sold as artificial fertilizers in
many forms-viz., crushed bones, bone
dust and meal, bone combings from
manufactures where combs and other
bone articles are made), q inch, 4 inch,
. inch, l inch, inch and 21I-inch
bones, and also in a vitriolized condi-
ton, under the name Of dissolved bones.
The last-named condition is brought
about by treating bones with sulphuric
acid (oil of vitrioD, by which action
they are rendered soluble and more as
similable or assailable by the soil, and
subsequently by the young growing
plant.
In their natural hard condition, bones,
as obtained from rag and bone collec-
tors, butchers, knackeries, etc, the
fertilizing ingredients (phosphoric acid
and nitrogen) are in an insoluble form,
and when applied to the land undergo
a very gradual change only; but when
they have been subjected to the action
of acid they become disintegrated or
partially dissolved, with the result that
they become more soluble and more
available to nitrifcation or the action
of soil bacteria, which convert the nj
trogen and nitrogenous compounds into
nitric acid, and plants can only asimi-
late by their roots nitrogen in the form
of nitric acid
1t is necessary for agricultural pur-
poses that the natural grease present
in commercial bones be removed, and
for this purpose some manufacturers
adopt the principle of steaming the
bones prior to adding the acid, and
even in this steamed condition they
may be purchased in which state they
are less soluble, and consequently
slower in their action than the vitriol-
lied article, but usually the bones are
ground to meal before being dissolved.
Two inch and two and half inch
bones are used for permanent pastures,
applied when the land is laid out tC
grass, as their action is very gradual
and is spread over a number of years
One inch bones are employed as top
dressing for permanent pasture, usual
ly rolled into the land in autumn
One-eighth, one-fourth and one-hal1
inch bones are frequently applied tc
land known to be in a state requiring
permanent Improvement, to the wheat
crop, in which case they show an i'm
provement throughout the entire rota
tion, whilst the loss incident to heavy
rains drainage, etc, is reduced to {
minimum, owing to their slow action
Bone dust, meal ~and combings are
usually found effective at the time O.
sowing barley, laid away with clover
or one or two years take, as in thi!
fine state of division their influence
begins to assert itself in time for the
barley plants to be benefited thereby
whilst the greater part of their manu-
rial properties are brought to bea,
upon the clover after the removal o
the grain. Another use to which bone
in this state is as an autumn top-dress
ing in combination with kainit for DO
tatoes or turnips the following year
but usually this method is not regarded
as being so satisfactory as applying tn
kainit alone and supplanting the bon
meal with dissolved bones at the tim
of sowing the turnips or potatoes.
As general rule, it may be said tina
If the land is heavy the former metho,
is more desirable than the use of tn
bones in the dissolved condition at tn
time of planting the potatoes or SOW
ing the turnip seed. Pure dissolve
bones and superphosphates of lime hav
long been rivals, as they are similar i
composition and used for very simila
purposes. Each of these manures hav
their advocates, and it at one
becomes evident that very larg
proportion of the beneficial effect
of lime supers is due to the linn
in their composition. 1t is now ger
orally acknowledged that bones ar
out and out superior in every way, ez
cept on certain soils; as to the price,
will be found that pure vitriolize
bones are, on many manufactures
price list, quoted at double the price c
superphosphates of lime; this is due t
the better analysis the more direct tn
influence, and more lasting the effect
Pure dissolved bones are used fo
root crops at the rate of to hundre
| weight per acre; for seeds, 2 hundre
weight per acre, applied at the time {
sowing the seed. Bone meal, on tn
other hand, is applied frequently as
mixture with other fertilizers, kaini
basic, Stag, superphosphates, coproliteI
etc, and applied in autumn as tol
dressing for old land, seeds, hay, an
for land to be sown with spring cereals
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