THE TEA.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 60, 29 November 1845, Page 3

THE TEA.

As soon as the dinner party had left the tables, preparations were made for tea. About 600 women and children were then served with abundance of excellent cake, bread and butter, and tea, which was soon despatched, as the company were evidently impatient to join their husbands, fathers, brothers, and sweethearts, to witness the sports. In the course of the day, three figures, intended lo represent Captain Fitzroy, his prime minister the Chief Protector, and the great legal authority of thte colony the Attorney-General, were paraded through the town, and in the evening were consigned to the flames in the middle of the" town. The head of the first figure was carved in wood, and its dress closely resembled that worn by Captain Fitzroy when he visited Nelson. The other figures more approached caricature, the heads being painted masks, but the dresses were in keeping with their respective callings.

Exports from the Port of Nelson for the quarter ending October 12th, 1845, with the declared value at the Custom House : —

Number and Tonnage of Vessels entered inwards at the Port of Nelson in the quarter ending October 10, 1845 :—: — - 21 vessels 1,358 tons 132 men.

The following account of the employment of bone as a manure when dissolved by maceration in Sulphuric acid will prove most inter•es'ting to our Agricultural readers. We see no reason why the vertebra of the whales .caugh^at the different stations should not be .turned to account, and either used for manure in New Zealand, or sent.to England' for this purpose. Bones are shipped from Sydney to England, and therefore we suppose that 'they "would leave a return after paying all expenses. Bone Manu^b v — Mr. Pusey informed the Council that the Trine Essay of Mr. Hannam, on the application of bones as a manure for the turnip crop, contained, in his opinion, not only a detailed account of the best experiment ever made on agriculture, but some points o£ so much importance at the present season, when the time for sowing turnips was coming on, that he felt anxious that not a moment should be lost in communicating the facts to the members for their information and guidance. Mr. Pusey having adverted to the great discovery of the economical and efficient employment ot bones as a manure when dissolved by maceration in sulphuric acid, proceeded to read extracts from Mr. Hannam 'a Prize Essay, of which the following is the substance : — I. Superiority in Economy and Effect*. — This ' result consisted not only in a greater amount of crop obtained *t lets cost than in the c«se of

bones employed in their ordinary ttatt, out also in the condition and character of the plant itself, as well as in its growth ; the crops derived from dissolved bones being both more abundant, healthy, and less liable to attacks of insects, and the plant more rapid in its growth (by 10 days in the first month, and a gain of a month, at the end, the turnips from the dissolved bones being ready for use several weeks before any other) while it exhibited a decided tendency to form bulbs at a much earlier period. The greater and more reatiilv fertilizing effects < f bones dissolved in acid than any sort of bones not so prepared, were clearly shown in the following 1 results ; in which the crops from the dissolved bones took the lead from the commencement: —

From which it appeared, that 2 bushels of dissqlyed bones per acre would actually produce as good results as 16 bushels of bones in their ordinary state in some cases ; that 8 bushels of dissolved bones would arreatly surpass 16 bushels of bones used in any other manure ; and that 4 bushels per acre would be a fair quantity to ap ply in the state of solution ; the results being greatly superior to those from four-fold the same quantity of bones applied in the usual manner, and the cost of the application less in proportion to the amount of effect produced, eyidenced by the weight of the crop, than that of any other quantity. 11. Proportions. — 1. Bone* and Acid. The proportion of acid had generally been one-half of the weight of bone employed ; but one-third or even one-fourth of the bone might be used with success, if occasion required. That was an important point in the economy of manure, as it affected the cost materially. 2. Water — The proportion of waler had generally been 100 times the weight of acid; but 50 or 25 times the weight of acid would serve the purpose required very efficiently. That fact was one likely to be of great use, one of the main practical difficulties^ to contend with in the application of dissolved bones being the large quantity of water which had "been considered necessary. Mr. Hannam's results showed that four bushe s of bones (I2st.), 6 st. of acid, and 3JO st. of w ater (50 times that of acid) gave 420 gallons of dissolved bones to be applied per acre; while Isi)st. of water (25 times that of acid) would suffice. It was, however, worthy of notice, in reference to the prepara'ionof the mixture, thatthebones should 'be pulverised as much as possible before they are mixed with the acid, in order to render the solution more complete ; but should that not he the case, and a few of the larger portions of bone be left undissolved, that circumstance would occasion no injurious effect, as there would be bone enough dissolved for the plant in its early stages, and the larger particles would disintegrate by degrees and come into operation towards the end of the season. 111. Dissolved- Bone Compost. — Mr. Pusey thought that, however great a point was gained by reducing the bulk of the water employed for diluting the solution of the bones, a still greater step was attained by substituting altogether the compost for the liquid form of the application. In the Society's last Journal, p. 598, Mr. Tennan t, of Shields, near Ayr, gave the following account of his practice on this head :— "I pat 25 bushels into three old boilers, (of which every farmer here has a supply), and next pour in two carboys of acid, of 170 lbs. each, and 18 imperial gallons of boiling water into each boiler. It boils awayat a gi eat rate for sometime, andin atlay or two we empty the boilers into two carts of light mould, and turn the mixture over. At this stage the bones are only partially dissolved^but they heat and decompose in the heap^af'ter being turned over three or four times ; and in the, course of seven or'eighi weeks the compost becomes dry, and breaks down with a shovel in a fit state for spreading with the hand in the drill." Mr. Thompson stated, that he had himself,, last year, fou^nd four bushels of dissolved bonasQ. applied in the form of compost, fully equal to 20 loads of fawn-yard manure; there being no perceptible difference in the crop throughout the fields. IV. Cost of Add.— The Earl of Ducie called the attention of the Council to the price of acid employed for the solution of the bones. He, understood that sulphuric and muriatic acid might be obtained for o|d. per lb. It was desirable not only that the price of the acid should be ascertained, but that its purity and strength should also be uniform. v Mr. Hyett has communicated the following particulars in a letter to Mr. Pusej'. — V Messrs. Leonard and Jordan ,< of" the Alkali Works, Bristol, offer to supply me with acids for dissolving bones as follows : — Oil of Vitriol (sulph. acid) sp. gr. 1850 per lb Id. Brown Acid, (sulph. acid) sp. gr., 1700^ ■,per lb. > „ fd. Muriatic Acid, sp. gr. 1 100 per lb |d.' These prices are charged for 10 carboys or upwards: for any less quantities a Jd. is usually added. A carboy isa large glass bottle, containing frtfnf Ito 1$ cwt. This is a reduction of 25, 50, and 100 per cent, respectively, on some of our printed prices ; but those who buy largely should be able to test the strength, without know - ing which ; the price, of course, is of no great value. This is done very easily with a small phial called a thousand-grain bottle, which costs about 6d. Balance one of these in the scales, fill it with the acid up to the mark on the neck ; the wheight gained is the specific gravity and the \ measure of strength. Thus, the oil of vitriol of commerce in the thousand-grain bottle should weigh 1850 grains; and the brown acid named above 1700 grains. The manufacturers inform me that there is no difference between these two, excepting that the latter is less concentrai ted than the former. This, I think, must mean less purified as well. It probably contains some very small quantity of organic matter, which has found its way into the sulphur during its

voyage or manufacture; and which being chatf-> red, drives the colour, and renders it less saltable for many purposes of manufacture. Fox 1 our purposes, this is no objection. The redaction in strength as compared with the oil of vitriol is more than covered by the reduction in price. I calculate, that the quantity of the browrt acid, which would cost only £5 , 6s 3d, would, taking its relative strength into account, dissolve a3 many bones as a quantity of the oil of Vitriol, which would cost £6 7s.

Bush, of Bones per acre. Cost per acre. State of Bonei. Produce ptr tore. 16 2 9 4 4 S 8 S £ i. d. 2 0 0 Cruihed Dissolved Dissolved Dissolved Dissolved Dissolved Dissolved Ditsolved Dissolved tons. 10 9 11 12 14 14 13 IS 16 cwt. 3 12 15 11 6 11 15 2 1 •t. 4 0 0 6 4 7 7 5 S lb. « 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 6 0 19 6 1 0 6 1 9 9 1 13 0

j£ 9. d 102,845 feet sawn timber 242 0 0 13 logs timber 10 0 0 10 spars 4 0 0 3 tons of flax 45 0 0 35 coils rope 34 10 0 10 coils whale line 24 0 0 28 staves 0 5 0 10 tons potatoes 30 0 0 26 tuns of oil (shipped at Kapiti) 400 0 0 6 casks black oil 24 10 0 10 casks humpback oil 126 10 0 lease curiosities 10 0 0 950 15 0 Coastwise : s>>i 67J eogsheads ale i v . '„<. »» • • .337 10 0 15 dozen bottled ale TV". . . . . 6 0 0 £1,294 5 0