THE LOSS BY WASTE. 177 



farmer; that it is a difficult matter to find in their fields 

 such a thing as a weed. What a contrast their fields must 

 present to ours, which are annually sowed with a fresh crop 

 of weeds, either by the crop already on the ground going to 

 seed, or by a reseeding in the manure applied ! What would 

 a Chinese farmer think of one of our grass-lots in the month 

 of June, white with the ox-eye daisy, and presenting the 

 appearance of a struggle between the grass and the weed, for 

 the possession of the land, with a poor show for the grass ? 

 Who can estimate the robbery of land by a crop of weeds ? 



If, by the use of night-soil as a manure, a farmer could 

 create a revolution in this respect, would he not be a bene- 

 factor to his neighbors ? The activity of night-soil as a 

 manure is, then, one of its chief advantages ; and this, in a 

 great measure, is due to the very large proportion of azotized 

 principles it possesses. It is from this azote that the ammo- 

 nia is derived ; and it is ascertained that a man passes nearly 

 half an ounce of azote with liis urine in the course of twenty- 

 four hours. 



Ammonia, it is scarcely necessary to add, is the stimulat- 

 ing principle of all manures, and especially that of guano. 

 But, as our object is not a dissertation on agricultural chemis- 

 try, we will not further pursue the subject into the domains 

 of science, or mystify it with technical terms. We have 

 shown in brief the value of night-soil as a manure, the high 

 estimation in which it is held in some countries, and the 

 advantages in its use. We crave a little patience, while, in 

 connection with its value, we show what is lost by its waste. 

 In that admirable and thoroughly-practical work of H. Ste- 

 phens and Professor Norton, entitled " The Farmer's Guide 

 to Scientific and Practical Agriculture," the subject of liquid 

 manures is very carefully considered. The contrast between 

 the towns of the interior in England, where the sewage is 

 taken advantage of for irrigation and for manuring garden- 

 ground, and the seaport towns where it is allowed to flow 

 into the rivers or ocean, is most strikingly set forth. It is 

 stated, that, in the environs of Edinburgh, poor sandy soils 

 not worth above twenty shillings per acre, have, by the sew- 

 age of the town, been converted into rich meadows, yielding 

 a rent of at least twenty pounds per acre. We quote the 

 language of the book on the subject of waste of this mate- 



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