A STORAGE CISTERN. 181 



human soil is collected with especial care. Boussingault, 

 speaking of the system in Flanders, says, " The reservoir for 

 its preservation ought to be one of the essential articles in 

 every farming establishment, as it is in Flanders, where there 

 is always a cesspool in masonry, with an arch turned over it, 

 for the purpose of collecting this invaluable manure. The 

 bottom is cemented and paved : two openings are left, one, in 

 the middle of the turned arch, for the introduction of the 

 material ; the other smaller, and made on the north side, is 

 for the admission of the air, which is requisite for the fer- 

 mentation." The Flemish reservoir may be of the dimen- 

 sions of about thirty-five cubic yards. Whenever the neces- 

 sary operations of the farm will permit, the carts are sent 

 off to the neighboring town to purchase night-soil, which is 

 then discharged into the reservoir, where it usually remains 

 for several months before being carried out upon the land. 



For the average American farmer, such cisterns and the 

 system spoken of would be too complicated and too expen- 

 sive ; but a cistern of moderate depth and dimensions may 

 be constructed on any farm. A good method of making 

 night-soil portable at small expense is a great desideratum. 

 The difficulty is in converting urine into a solid form. The 

 use of a cistern for the purpose of collecting, storing , and 

 fermenting the crude material, seems indispensable : the next 

 thing is to deodorize the material, and free it from the disgust 

 attending its manipulation and application. In Paris, the 

 material is rendered inodorous by gradually pouring into the 

 box or vessel containing it a solution of zinc and chloride of 

 calcium, until it ceases to exhale an unpleasant smell on 

 stirring. The application of lime has been recommended for 

 this purpose ; but it is hardly necessary to explain to an in- 

 telligent mind that this would be at the risk of driving off 

 some of the most valuable elements of the manure. There 

 can be no surer way of getting rid of ammonia than by the 

 addition of lime, especially in its quick state. It will not, of 

 course, be understood, that, under this sweeping denunciation, 

 gypsum, or sulphate of lime, is included. Ground plaster 

 mingled with other drying materials might be advantageously 

 added to fix the ammonia, and convert it, by the action 

 of sulphuric acid contained, into sulphate of ammonia, which 

 is a soluble salt, as is familiar to all intelligent agriculturists : 



