30i MxVSSACriUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



plaster as a most important and economical fertilizer for a ma- 

 jority of tho farmers of Essex. 



C he mistr J teaches us hovvrich in plant nutriment is the liquid 

 excrement of animals. It teaches that a farmer may as well let 

 hordes of hungry vermin into his granary to run away with his 

 corn and wheat, as to let the liquid manures of his barns and 

 stables run to waste. A pound of tlie liquid excrement of a 

 cow v\m11 form in the field as much in weiglit of the stallvs and 

 leaves of plants as three pounds of the solid. A cow will produce 

 about seventeen thousand pounds of solid, and about seven 

 thousand of the liquid, in a year ; hence it will be seen that the 

 aggregate value of the liquid is equal, to say the least, to the 

 other. Now what farmer would rest easy a single hour, if he 

 was aware that the solid manure of liis animals was being 

 wasted? And yet, gentlemen, how many of you have made 

 provision to save that which is as easily saved, and which is 

 worth as much ? Lot me describe to you a method of preserv- 

 ing liquid manures, which occuired to me while on the prairie 

 lands of tlie west the past spring. It has the merit of cheapness 

 and effectiveness, and may be generally adopted. I observed, 

 connected with the rough cheap dwellings ujjon the prairies, a 

 cistern for holding rain water, made by simply scooping out the 

 earth to the depth of perhaps eight or ten feet, and then plas- 

 tering it over one inch in thickness with a mortar made with 

 hydraulic cement and coarse sand, equal parts. This was 

 allowed to harden, and then covered with plank below the limit 

 of frost. Thus for five dollars a cistern of twenty hogsheads' 

 capacity may be made, which, if carefully constructed, will con- 

 tinue intact for many years. Let each farmer prepare such a 

 cistern as this contiguous to his barn, and let him incline the 

 flooring of his cattle stalls, and attach conductors, so that during 

 the winter all liquid excrement may flow into the same. Let 

 him purchase a carboy of sulphuric acid, which will cost but 

 two or three dollars, and occasionally throw into the cistern a 

 quantity mingled with an equal amount of water, and he will 

 find ready in the spring a manure worth tenfold more than its 

 cost. The use of the acid will be to fix the ammonia which will 

 be formed in the liquid, and prevent its loss by volatilization. 



In the construction of the cistern the aid of masons need not, 

 necessarily, be called in. The farmer of ordinary skill can con- 



