BONEDUST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 July 1939, Page 9

BONEDUST

MOST USEFUL MANURE. Bonedust is one of the most useful of all artificial manures, if it can be called artificial; and if only one manure is used it is safe to say.- that this should be the one. It is prepared by boiling the raw bones to extract the fat, after which they are ground into a somewhat gritty meal, which contains from four to five per cent of nitrogen and 45 to 48 per cent of phosphate. Though the fat is removed the cartilage remains, and this has the effect of retarding the breaking up of the particles, so that it is a slow-acting manure. The finer it is ground the quicker it acts, as particles come into closer con ■ tact with the soil. In soils of acid nature such as is common in most gardens, or as an ingredient of potting composts where if is brought into closer contact with the soil, it is much quicker acting. Lime added to it rather retards the action, and for this reason it is advisable to use a certain quantity of superphosphate with the bonedust when it is applied to a crop which matures quickly. As bonedust is slow acting it is advis • able in the case of gardens where the. ground is usually prepared during autumn and winter to apply it at the time of digging; it is then in an available condition in the spring for the crop.

It is often recommended to sow the manure in the drills at the time of planting, and for field cultivation this has certain advantages, but for the garden purposes where two or three crops are taken off the same ground in a season it is best spread broadcast. It should be applied at the rate of two or three ounces to the square yard. It is particularly valuable for topdressing fruit trees, roses, asparagus, herbaceous borders, chrysanthemums, sweet peas, shrubs, trees and all vegetable crops.

One important point to be noted with it is that the more it is incorporated with the soil the better it is. Consequently whether used in the garden or in potting soils it should be mixed as freely as possible. For lawns, it should be applied late in autumn or during winter at the rate of about a pound to eight square .yards. It improves the colour and quality of the grass without undue encouragement of the clovers, which is such a feature of the use of basic slag. For this reason it is good for tennis and bowling greens. It does not encourage the baneful horizontal growth of "cocksfoot." which is often the result of nitrogenous manure. Fine weather should be chosen for applying it. otherwise that part which is in fine dust and therefore the most valuable will be blown away and lost. As it can be stored dry for any length of time, it can be procured in bulk and used as required.