190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Now, since I am a mere village farmer, with a small place 

 on the banks of Charles River, my vault is constructed with 

 great care, so that not a drop of the liquid can escape. 

 There is an eight-inch brick wall laid in cement; and the 

 bottom of the vault is plastered with cement. That was 

 done in 1859 ; and, when I had the vault cleaned out this fall, 

 it was just as perfect as when it was first made. Every drop 

 of urine from the chambers is carefully saved ; and I always 

 tell my family to be very careful with the wash-basins, so 

 that a large quantity of water is not put down into the 

 vault. I have a small pile of about a cord that I prepared 

 this year : it has been well fermented. I buy one or two 

 loads of muck ; I save all my leaves around the trees ; and I 

 add about a cart-load of fine decomposed leaf-mould that I 

 mixed with the contents of my vault this season. I pro- 

 nounce it the most valuable manure that a farmer can use, 

 if he takes a little time and trouble with it ; but do not go 

 to the poudrette man, unless you want to throw your money 

 away. 



Professor Stockbeidge of Amherst. I attended this 

 meeting for the sake of hearing the essay which has been 

 read. The subject which has been brought before you, I 

 deem to be one of the most important that can be presented 

 to the farmers of the older States of the Union. But I be- 

 lieve, that, in relation to it, the work being done to-day is 

 only preparatory. You may talk poudrette, you may talk 

 night-soil, you may talk compost ; but, after all, it is going to 

 amount to nothing, in my judgment, for many years to come. 

 "We only want to-day to be thoroughly instructed upon the 

 subject of utilizing this material ; and, when the necessity 

 comes upon us, we shall know exactly what to do with it, 

 and so utilize and save it all. 



Now, as a matter of necessity with me, the subject of 

 night-soil is always considered at considerable length in the 

 course of lectures at the college on the subject of manure ; 

 and I will state in as few words as I can, and as near as I can 

 remember, the statements which I have made there in rela- 

 tion to it. First, it is the crying sin and shame of all the 

 old States of the Union that this material should be any 

 longer allowed to go to waste. Our farms are running out, 

 and in a measure exhausted, simply and solely because we 



