." There can be no doubt that
what gives to bones a peculiar value in the eyes of the farmer is the
fact that they form a manure of a lasting character. They give what has
been termed backbone to a soil. But the tendency of modern agricultural
practice is to use quick-acting manures rather than slow. This has been
admirably put by Professor Storer in the following words: "The old
notion, that those manures are best which make themselves felt through a
long series of years, is now recognised to be an error. The adage, that
'one cannot eat the cake and have the cake' is conspicuously true in
agriculture; and just as it is the part of prudence in household or
maritime economy to abstain from laying in at any one time more
provisions than can be properly disposed of in a year or during a
voyage, so should the farmer refrain from bringing to the land an
unnecessary excess of plant-food. Such food is liable to spoil withal
in the soil, as well as other kinds of provisions that are kept too long
in store. A just proportion of food, properly prepared, is the point to
be aimed at always."

In view, therefore, of what has just been said, it might seem best to
use bones in the form in which they are most speedily available--viz.,
as dissolved bones. This would be so if bones were the only source we
possessed for the manufacture of superphosphate of lime; but we now
have, in the various mineral phosphates, abundant and cheaper sources of
this valuable manure. The opinion of leading agriculturists and
agricultural chemists is rather in favour of applying bones in the
undissolved condition. For one thing, it seems far from economical to
utilise an expensive material such as bones for manufacturing an article
which can be equally well manufactured from cheaper materials; for once
the phosphate of lime is dissolved, it is equally valuable from whatever
source it may be derived. Of course this is not tantamount to saying
that dissolved bones as a manure are no more valuable than
superphosphate. In dissolved bones we have, in addition to soluble
phosphate, a considerable proportion of undissolved bone-tissue,
containing a certain quantity of nitrogen and organic matter; but so far
as the soluble phosphate is concerned, it seems only rational to
conclude that its efficacy is equally great, whether it be derived from
bone or mineral phosphate. Another reason is, that much of the
characteristic action of bones is lost by treating them with