LIEBIG'S OPINION. 175 



manure he now obtained had a very different effect from that 

 of his first venture ; and his philosophy was taught to compre- 

 hend the difference between the rich and varied feed of the 

 hahituSs of the Palais Royal, and a soldier's rations, — simply 

 he lost money by his bargain. 



The distinguished agricultural chemist Liebig, quoting 

 Boussingault, speaking of the value of night-soil as compared 

 with othe* manures, says, " On the assumption that the liquid 

 and solid excrements of man amount, on an average, to only 

 a pound and a half daily (a pound and a quarter of urine 

 and one-quarter pound faeces), and that both taken together 

 contain three per cent of nitrogen, then in one year they 

 will amount to five hundred and forty-seven pounds, con- 

 taining 16.41 pounds of nitrogen, — a quantity sufficient to 

 yield the nitrogen of eight hundred pounds of wheat, rye, 

 oats, or nine hundred pounds of barley." He further adds, 

 " This is much more than it is necessary to add to an acre of 

 land in order to obtain, with the assistance of the nitrogen 

 absorbed from the atmosphere, the richest crops every year. 



" By adopting a system of rotation of crops, every town 

 and farm might thus supply itself with the manure, which, 

 besides containing the most nitrogen, contains also the most 

 phosphates. By using at the same time bones and the 

 lixiviated ashes of wood, animal excrements might he comfletely 

 dispensed with on many kinds of soil" We emphasize the 

 closing sentence of the paragraph, and in doing so refer you 

 back to the analysis we have given above. Our space will 

 not admit of our giving a comparative analysis of other 

 manures: we simply allude to the fact of night-soil being 

 pre-eminently rich in nitrogen, and why so ? The reason is 

 plain ; on account of the variety of food consumed by man. 

 The herb of the field, the grain, the grass that feeds the 

 beef and the smaller animals, that beef and those lesser 

 consumers themselves, the vegetables the pride of his garden, 

 the luscious fruits in all their countless variety, — mixed and 

 mingled, victuals and drink, — all conglomerate this element 

 of nitrogen. Hear what the same Liebig says of its impor- 

 tance : " We cannot suppose that a plant could attain matu- 

 rity, even in the richest vegetable mould, without the pres- 

 ence of matter containing nitrogen, since we know that 

 nitrogen exists in every part of the vegetable structure." 



