all events; but this requires such quantities of disinfecting agents that the costs will not be covered by the increase in yield. Von Fellenberg has a regularly-constructed reservoir for liquid manure, which holds about 60,000 kilogrammes = 1200 hundred weight of liquid manure, and which generally is filled thrice a year, and of course emptied as many times. As no rain-water can flow in, it is completely concentrated. At a low estimate, we will suppose liquid manure to contain only of one per cent. of ammonia;—different reliable analyses of liquid manure have shown that it often contains from of 1 to 1 per cent. of ammonia. The complete neutralization of the 60,000 kilogrammes (= 1200 hundredweight) of liquid manure would require about 1 per cent. of common sulphuric acid, or about 1,200 pounds; if sulphate of iron should be used, it would require about 3,000 pounds. Thus the preparation of that amount of liquid manure with sulphuric acid would cost about 540 francs per year; with sulphate of iron, about 900 francs. Can such great expenses be covered by the increase in yield per year? The effect of the liquid manure we cannot suppose to last any longer. Now, if to manure one juchart (Swiss acre) of grass-land with liquid manure would, at a very moderate estimate, require 45,000 pounds per Prussian acre (= 6 pounds per 5 square feet), and were we to bring this quantity completely disinfected upon the land, then this maneuver would require 450 pounds of sulphuric acid; thus about 5 grammes (= 1 drachms) of sulphuric acid would come upon each square foot of ground by pouring on liquid manure but once, and 16 grammes (= ounce nearly) by pouring it on thrice. It is very likely that such a quantity of acid may have an injurious effect upon the land. Repeated comparative experiments, made by v. Fellenberg, with neutralized and non-neutralized liquid manure, did not show the least difference in the yield. If we investigate more minutely the disinfection of barn-yard manure and of liquid manure, we must observe a very essential difference. In the case of barn-yard manure, which easily becomes heated, and, lying in the open air, is exposed to all atmospheric influences, disinfection is much more. necessary than in the case of liquid manure, which, containing much water, becomes less heated, or not at all, and therefore should be kept hermetically. At all events, the admixture of a chemical fixing agent to barn-yard manure appears to be more necessary, more effective, and therefore more important, than the disinfection of liquid manure. Besides, the results of vitriolizing liquid manure, formerly much in vogue in Switzerland, have shown that vitriolized liquid manure has an injurious effect upon the soil, and that the continuous use of it has completely impoverished grass-land formerly very productive. This result has never been observed where the common liquid manure was used. Since grass-land spoiled, or, as it were, poisoned with vitriolized liquid manure, can be made productive again only by being plowed and cultivated for several years, this should cause us to infer that the soil was overcharged with acid and 1 iron, which substances could not be well digested because the soil was closed by the grass-sod. At all events, it is the reason why this method of preparing liquid. manure is more and more discarded. On the contrary, all farmers in Western Switzerland, having, as also v. Fellenberg has done, adopted the method of Mr. Huenerwadel, of Schinznach, a bathing. place in the canton of Aargau, hitherto derived only favorable and in no way unfavorable results from preparing liquid manure with plaster; and the discoverer of this new method of manuring can show by figures that he has reaped crops. yielding from 40 to 50-fold, although the seed had been sown sparingly. That we are not disposed to disparage the value of artificial fertilizing agents, I may quote from another writer, in an essay "On the Practicability of using the Spade in cultivating larger Estates," to which the General Agricultural Society of the Kingdom of Hanover awarded the prize: "The manure produced on the farm itself is always the most natural fertilizing agent of the land. Before artificial manure is purchased, all possible available sources for making manure upon the farm should first be exhausted; but then it should not be delayed any longer, and, if necessary, the money should be borrowed from the banker to buy the necessary manure. "Favorable results cannot be doubted. Although artificial manure, guano and Chili saltpeter will not fully supplant animal manure, yet they are of great importance, as purchasable and easily transportable additional manure, for aiding the growth of sparse and damaged crops, and for being used on far remote and impassable fields, and on lands or real estates whose fertility shall be increased, and be perpetuated in a considerable degree, in a short space of time. Another reason for purchasing artificial manures is their favorable effect upon the production of straw, so that a farm, by applying such agents, will be benefited not only transiently, by this increase of nutritious matter for the plants, but also permanently, by an increased production of straw and manure. Further, we acknowledge that the adage Time is money' is equally applicable in respect to the realization of the capital invested in manure, and, according to circumstances, should be the rule of every thinking and calculating agriculturist." Finally, then, we are convinced, in an agricultural technical as well as national economical point of view, that every farmer, wherever he may till the soil, may secure, by the above described preparation of his manure with plaster, a neverfailing but always increasing source upon his own premises, from which may be derived (if he appreciates his task correctly, and this according to the above calculation) by 90 per cent. cheaper than by using all artificial fertilizing agents hitherto in general use. All practical agriculturists should ponder over this, and try it; and it is desirable that every learned man in this branch should carefully examine this material, for the purpose of further developing the method initiated by v. Fellenberg; but the proof of our assertion must hold good, not only in the laboratory, but in practice. BONES. HOW FARMERS CAN PREPARE THEM FOR MANURE. The books and periodicals for years past differ greatly in the proportion of sulphuric acid required for di-solving bones. In the Patent Office Report of 1856, Mr. Brown recommended five pounds of acid to 100 pounds of bones, and to compost them with muck. Prof. Gilman, of Virginia Military Institute, in The Country Gentleman of 28th October, 1858, refers to an article of Prof Norton, which recommends 50 or 60 pounds for whole bones, and 25 to 45 for ground bones, and adds that he (Prof. Gilman) found even 100 pounds of acid was not sufficient to di: solve 100 pounds of bones. The real state of the case is, that if it be desired to dissolve all the phosphates in 100 pounds of bones, or about two bushels, we must apply 59 pounds of sulphuric acid whose specific gravity is 1.85 diluted with three times its weight of water; and to effect a complete solution, they must be frequently stirred during three or four weeks. If the bones be whole, it will require many months to dissolve all their pho-phates. If it be desired to dissolve a part only, a less proportion may be used. My own opinion is, the less acid the more economical to the farmer in the long run. We must not omit to count the cost of applying sulphuric acid to bones, which of course will be modified by the proportions used. Let us first ascertain the cost of effecting a complete solution of the phosphate of lime in bones : .... 1st. 100 lbs. of ground bones, costing... .... $1 46 1 77 We should add for labor and the cost of a vat or tub, which is Total..... 08 $3.31 2d. If we use acid sufficient to dissolve half the bones, the cost will be as fol As a bushel of bones will average in weight 45 pounds, we have to deduct 55 per cent. to get at the cost of one bushel; therefore, One bushel fully dissolved will cost... One bushel half dissolved will cost $1.49 1 10 It will be seen, therefore, that by dissolving we much more than double the cost, and if but half dissolved their cost is increased more than two thirds in amount. Great care should be taken when sulphuric acid is poured into water. It must be done gradually, as it generates heat above the boiling point, and is apt to be thrown in the face and on the clothes of the operator. Sir J. Murray thinks dissolving bones with sulphuric acid objectionable, because there is loss by the soluble phosphates being carried off by water, but there is reason to think that the cause of their effects being so slight after one or two crops is more owing to certain known chemical reactions in the soil. Soluble salts of alumina and iron, especially the latter, are never absent from soils; and when a soluble phosphate of lime comes in contact with either of these, the phosphoric acid is precipitated as phosphate of iron or alumina, both of which, according to Bischoff, are the most insoluble substances known in water and carbonic acid, but some experiments of Dr. Piggott prove that they are soluble in alkaline silicates. If there is suspicion that ground bones are adulterated with foreign matters, they can be readily detected with a good pocket lens, which every farmer ought to possess, and also sifted coal ashes used to adulterate wood ashes and other manures can be detected, as the smallest grains of coke or coal, always existing in coal ashes, will be exposed by the same means. The following directions for preparing bones on the farm are extracted from the report of Philip T. Tyson, State Agricultural Chemist, Maryland, who has been engaged many years in agricultural investigations: "I have found no better way of causing the putrefaction and decay of bones than that practiced by me nineteen years ago, after experimenting to some extent, and as inquiries about it have frequently made it necessary to describe the process, it will now be repeated in full. "Having smoothed over the surface of the ground (under a shed, if convenient), place thereon evenly a layer of three inches of ground bones, and then an even layer of good fine soil or earth free from stones or sticks. Give a good sprinkling of gypsum over each layer of earth. Another layer of bones is applied upon the layer of earth, and the same alternations are to be repeated with the gypsum until we have four of each, bones and earth, and the height of the pile will be 24 inches. As the bones are usually dry, each layer should be well moistened with water, or, better, with urine, in order to hasten the process. It is proper to place two or more sticks in the pile, reaching to the base, which should be frequently examined by feeling them, in order to judge of the degree of heat produced. If the weather be warm, they will begin to heat in a few days, and in a week or two will become hot. When, upon taking out the stakes, they feel unpleasantly hot, the process should be checked by chopping or spading down the mass from top to bottom, which, if carefully done, mixes the materia's well together, and they are ready for spreading. If the process be commenced during cold weather, it may be hastened by placing at the bottom a layer of fresh horsedung about six inches thick, and covering the pile with straw or fodder to retain the heat. If salt is used as a manure, it cannot be applied more advantageously than with the bones, because it promotes their solubility. It would be better to place the proper dose of salt with the gypsum upon each layer of carth. After trying bones in quantities from 30 bushels down to 10, I conclude that 10 bushels. to the acre is the most advantageous quantity. I became satisfied also that ten bushels, prepared as just indicated, will be as effective for a year or two as double that quantity applied in a dry state. If, when wheat ground is dressed with dry bones, the soil be dry and continue so, but little effect will be produced on the autumn growth. DURABLE EFFECT OF BONE MANURE. "The effect of putrefied bones will be obvious in a few days after the wheat appears above the surface. In ammoniated guano decay has progressed till nearly all its contained ammonia is already formed, and as it is very soluble, it is rapidly washed off during heavy rains, so that when the soil is not frozen in winter the ammonia is passing off, and there is no crop to appropriate it. "When bones are applied, either dry or in the manner just suggested, they give out their ammonia as the crops require it, but in cold weather the putrefaction is nearly or quite suspended, and again resumed in spring, becoming more rapid in hot weather, when it is most wanted for the crop. Experience has shown. that the effect of bones in stiff clay soils is not so prompt as in those of porous character; the compactness of clay prevents sufficient access of air for the decay of bones. In very wet soils ainimal matters decompose so slowly as to benefit crops but little. I had an opportunity lately to notice the durable effect of bones which I applied to land 17 to 20 years since; it continues to produce heavy crops under the judicious management of its present occupant. Loudon, Johnston, and others, say that the effects of heavy bone dressings are clearly shown in England to endure 40 to 50 years." ANALYSIS OF SOILS. Philip T. Tyson, Agricultural Chemist of Maryland, says: "I have been forced reluctantly to the conclusion that a reliance upon analysis only for sure indications of the causes of sterility in soils was delu ive, and would not hold good in practice. Prof. J. C. Booth, of Philadelphia, was the first professional gentleman with whom I conversed that fully agreed with me in this. At this time such views prevail generally with chemists and others who have devoted themselves to investigations connected with this important subject. Dr. Anderson, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow, and Chemist to the Agricultural Society of Scotland, fully expresses similar conclusions. He says: It has been found while in some instances it is possible to predict with certainty, from analysis, that a particular soil is barren, in numerous others a barren and a fertile soil may approach so closely in chemical composition that it is scarcely possible to distinguish one from the other. The majority of analyses fail to give the information desirable for practical deduction. This may, in part, |