78 [Senate 



Urate, is a manure formed from a compound of urine, sand and plas- 

 ter of Paris. In Paris, where the manufacture is most perfect, the 

 Tj gypsiiiii is burnt previous to using. The value of the urates 



as manure, will be better understood from the annexed table: 



Water, 65. 



Urea, 5. 



Bone dust, 5 . 



Sal ammoniac and muriate of potash, 15 . 



Sulphate of potash, 6 . 



Carbonate of potash and ammonia, 5 . 



100 



From this, it will be seen that urate abounds in those substances 

 most necessary to give fertility to soils. Dr. Dana remarks that a 

 cord of loam, saturated with urine, is equal to a cord of the best rot- 

 ted dung; and in some experiments made by the French Royal Soci- 

 ety of Agriculture, which may be found detailed in the Dictionnaire 

 d' Agriculture Pratique^ Paris, 1828, for the purpose of comparing it 

 with night soil, pigeon's dung, &c., known to be very effective, the 

 result was in favor of the urate. When mixed with dried night soil 

 or poudrette, its effect on various crops was very great. From the 

 experiments there instituted, it appeared that urate alone acted most 

 favorably in moist seasons. It must be remembered, however, that 

 night soil, when properly prepared, retains all the urine, or rather its 

 feriilizing qualities; and the fact that urine is of itself so valuable 

 a manure, should put farmers on their guard against suffering it to be 

 lost from their stables and yards, as is usually done. 



Where the farmer is so situated that no poudrette manufactories 

 are within his reach, he will find that by making it into a compost 

 Use of ^^^^ swamp muck, ashes, peat or gypsum, he will have 

 NightsoU. ^ manure that may be easily applied, and which will pos- 

 sess great fertilizing powers. The Chinese have long been celebrat- 

 ed for the extensive use of night soil. Their method is to make it 

 into cakes with a rich marl, which, when dried in the sun, constitute 

 a regular article of traffic, almost a legal tender. The Flemings 

 were the first of the Europeans to make a common use of night soil 

 as a manure, and hence its name of Flemish manure. There it is ap- 

 plied directly, and without preparation, to any crop for which ma- 

 nure is wanted; and the superiority of Flemish agriculture, and the 

 great fertility of their soils, may be, in a great measure, attributed to 

 their careful saving and use of matters which others have been most 



