I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 335 



HUANO MANURE. 



An important improvement in the manufacture of artificial 

 guanos, the discovery of which affords for many cases a prac- 

 tical solution of the difficulty of disposing of sewage, has just 

 been announced in Great Britain, having reference to a sub- 

 stance called Huano manure. This material, it is claimed, is 

 as rich as Peruvian guano, and its manufacturers furnish a 

 guarantee to that effect. It is worth, according to the scale 

 of fertilizers, from $40 to $45 per ton, although its first cost, 

 as manufactured, is less than $13 per ton. In the course of 

 inquiries leading to the invention in question, it was first 

 ascertained that Portland cement transforms niarht-soil into 

 stone, which, upon being crushed, gives eighteen per cent, of 

 phosphate of lime ; and when applied as a manure for grow- 

 ing turnips, has produced twenty-six tons to the acre. Owing 

 to the insoluble nature of the phosphates, however, the action 

 was slow, and the next step in the process was to utilize this 

 property of cementation in the superphosphate manufacture, 

 in which night-soil is substituted for water in the decompo- 

 sition of the phosphates. During this process the phosphates 

 part with the two portions of their lime, uniting with sul- 

 phuric acid to form sulphate of lime (plaster of Paris), from 

 which is derived the valuable property of cementing night- 

 soil from a liquid into a solid mass. This solidification pro- 

 duces simultaneous deodorization, removing all offensive and 

 foul effluvia, as well as any capability of giving out deleteri- 

 ous gases, and such powers of destruction are transformed 

 into fertilizing endowments. It will thus be seen that ce- 

 mentation lawfully usurps the place hitherto occupied by fer- 

 mentation and evaporation, and hydrates all the moisture 

 which, being chiefly urine, possesses manurial value to the 

 iast drop together with the incorporation of the whole of 

 the ammonia, alkaline salts, and other valuable constituents 

 existing in the night-soil. 



The inventor, Mr. Hughan, has made arrangements with an 

 extensive manufacturer of superphosphates to carry on the 

 process, and great expectations are expressed as to the value 

 of the results to be anticipated. The advantages of working 

 the new patent, in connection with such a manufacture, are: 

 1. The night-soil gives that pasty condition to phosphates es- 



