Bones are used for the manufacture of glue and gelatine. These are extracted from them by steaming the bones. The bones after treatment are used as a manure. The improvement noted in the action of the bones thus treated led to the introduction of the use of steamed bones as a manure. Raw bones are now rarely used. The fat present in raw bones retards their decomposition in the soil. Probably, as has been suggested, it forms along with lime an insoluble soap which prevents the mineral matter in the bone being dissolved by the carbonic acid of the soil. In the process of boiling or steaming a certain loss of nitrogen takes place, greater or less, according to the length of time they are boiled or steamed, and in the latter case the pressure applied. A more economical method for extracting the fat has been introduced by using benzine, but this process is not used to any extent. The loss of nitrogen in the former case is more than compensated for by their more speedy action as a manure when applied to the soil. Bone-meal of good quality contains from 45 to 55[217] per cent of phosphate of lime, and 3-1/2 per cent of nitrogen. Our present total consumption of bones is probably little less than 100,000 tons per annum, of which about half is obtained from home collections, over 20,000 tons being annually collected in and around London alone. _Action of Bones._ It is well known that bones are a slow-acting manure. They may be said to possess both a mechanical and chemical action when applied to the soil. When they putrefy, their nitrogen is slowly converted into ammonia, and carbonic acid as well as various organic acids are formed, which, acting upon the insoluble mineral matter in the bones, renders it available for plant uses. Bones thus, when applied in large quantities, may not merely act directly as suppliers of plant-food, but in the course of their putrefaction may act upon a certain amount of the inert fertilising matter of the soil and render it available. The more readily, then, bones putrefy, the more speedy will be their effect. As we have already pointed out, bones, in order to increase their efficiency, are often fermented before application. The removal of the fat is another means of increasing the rate of their action, but the fineness to which they are ground determines this more than anything else. Much ingenuity has been expended in perfecting machinery for grinding bones. At one time in Germany they were pounded in stamps similar to those used for ore. In America what has been called "floated bone" has been prepared. This bone is so fine that it actually floats in the air like flour-dust, and is made by whirling the bones against one another. The action of bones prepared in this way is of course very speedy, but the difficulty of applying a manure in such a fine state of division to the soil is great. The expense of the process also is considerable.