I. AGRICULTUEE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 387 



in as short a time as stable manure. To this end they must 

 be placed in a drying-chamber of sheet-iron, having a capac- 

 ity of at least twenty-six cubic yards, and supplied with a 

 door at the top for filling, and others on the side below for 

 removing the dried materials. There must also be a perfo- 

 rated floor of brick-work, from eight to sixteen inches above 

 the bottom. The lower part of the chamber communicates by 

 means of a wide sheet-iron tube with the chimney of the es- 

 tablishment, or some draught, and a rectangular furnace, for 

 the consumption of coke, adjoins it, with its chimney entering 

 the top of the drying-chamber. The hot air and products 

 of combustion thus pass through the chamber from top to 

 bottom, its doors being carefully luted tight, and the doors 

 of the furnace above the fire-chamber being open, so that as 

 large a volume as possible of heated air (not above 300) may 

 be thrown into the chamber. When the material has all 

 reached this temperature, the furnace is freshly filled, and its 

 doors closed, so that the fire is simply kept alive ; and a 

 stream of steam is then passed into its chimney, which min- 

 gles with the consumed air, and passes through the chamber 

 at a temperature of 300 to 320. After such treatment for 

 several hours, the material, although somewhat swollen, is 

 perfectly dry, and pulverizable without trouble, and without 

 loss of nitrogenous matter. When cold, it is crushed by roll- 

 ers and passed through sieves. So accurate is the prepara- 

 tion of mixtures from this product that the manufacturer 

 guarantees the quantity of nitrogen and phosphates. 14 (7, 

 CCX.,118. 



HAY- CAKES FOR HOESES. 



Hay tablets, prepared in the following manner, have been 

 employed in France for some time, as a convenient and port- 

 able feed for horses : Hay and straw, very finely cut, are 

 well mixed with crushed oats or rye, and moistened with a 

 solution of rapeseed or linseed oil-cake, and the mass again 

 well worked, and then formed into tablets under pressure. 

 9 C, February, 1874, 28. 



EFFECT OF THE ADDITION OF FAT TO RAW FEED FOR SHEEP. 



Experiments upon sheep by Hofmeister, of the Dresden 

 experimental station, afford the following conclusions : (1.) 



