The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-03-08

The greater portion of the bone put upon the
market as "bone meaP' has been previously steam
ed or boiled for the purpose of removing part OF
the fat nitrogenous materials (gue and gelatlne):
Fat has no value fertilizer and glue and
gelatine are worth commercial products
than for supplying nitrogen in fertilizers. The
value of the bone is reduced by this process IN
proportion to the amount of nitrogen containing
materials removed Such bone Csteamed'O con-
tans from IA to 212 per cent of nitrogen and
25 to 80 per cent of phosphoric acid. The re-
moval of the fat and nitrogenous matter leaves
a larger amount of phosphoric acid in the result
ing bone which can be ground finer than raw bone
before steaming, there Is not so much Heshy
matter present to hold the particules together
A rather small and variable portion Of the phos-
phoric acid of bone meal is available (souble) but
it becomes available the bone decomposes-
rate of decay being largely influenced by the fine
ness of the PARTICLES The availability of the nj
trogen of bone will also depend how fast it
decomposes in the soil, the finer the state of
division the quicker it will act From this it will
be concluded that bone meal is not quick acting
fertilizer and is not desirable where quick ferti
izer is wanted, but is good source of nitrogen
and phosphoric acid for lawns, permanent grass
lands, and long growing crops.
DISSOLVED BONE
Bone meal is sometimes treated with sulphuric
acid when it is called "dissolved BONE" When
real bone has been used for this purpose the prod
uct contains to per cent of nitrogen and - to
Is per cent of available phosphoric acid Ere
quently, however, ordinary acid phosphate made
from phosphate rock is misnamed "dssolved
bone." If the material does not contain nitro
gen it may be concluded at once that it made
from phosphate rock and is nothing but an ordi-
nary acid phosphate. Even if it is made from
real bone, no should be paid for the available
phosphoric acid in it, as the available phosphoric
acid in dissolved bone and acid phosphate of
equal value, but the nitrogen in dissolved bone
should be valued in addition to the available phos-
phoric acid.
Old bones, bleached and white by long exposure,
and which have lost all their nitrogen by the de-
cay of the organic matter in them, worth
more than phosphate rock
Tankage, stated under nitrogen, contains, in
addition to nitrogen, variable amounts of phos-
phoric acid. There are five or six grades of this
material on the market having from to 20
per cent of phosphoric acid which is equal to Is
co 40 per cent phosphate of lime. The phosphoric
acid in tankage is derived from bone and the dis
cussion of it's value under bone meal is applicable
here. 1t will be observed that high nitrogen
content in tankage, 5 with bone meal, means also
correspOndingly low phosphoric acid percentage,
and that when the nitrogen is low the phosphoric
acid is high. It may be we'll to state that
bones means correspondngly large amount of
nitrogenous organic matter to decompose, which
has tendency to make the phosphoric acid asso-
ciated with it available.
Fish scrap has already been stated TO contain 6
to per cent phosphorc acid in addition to its
to per cent of nitrogen. This phosphoric acid
is present in the bones of the fish mainly and
half to two-thirds is available or will likely be-
come during growing season. Fish residues
from canneries and packing establishments, which
is composed mainly of the Offal skin, and bones
will have more phosphoric acid than ordinary fish
scrap from oil establishments, but the latter will
have the higher nitrogen content: