340 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



eration, the above sample may be accepted as a fair specimen 

 of its kind, — "a Humid Poudrette." 



The name "poudrette" has been given to an important 

 class of fertilizers, which consist, in a more or less controlling 

 decree, of the contents of the necessaries. The articles 

 which are offered by that name for sale differ, quite fre- 

 quently, widely from each other, in regard to their chemical 

 composition and their physical condition, and, consequently, 

 their agricultural value, — a circumstance which accounts, to 

 some extent at least, for the objections here and there raised 

 against their efficiency, and their great value as an inexhaust- 

 less home-resource of plant-food. The well-recognized dif- 

 ferences of genuine poudrettes are due chiefly to the following 

 causes : First, the nature, the kind, and the peculiar conditions 

 of the human excretions turned to account for their manu- 

 facture ; namely, whether the liquid or the solid portion, or 

 both, — entire or in part, in the fresh or the fermented state, 

 — are applied; Second, the particular course pursued in their 

 manufacture ; whether the human excretions are worked into 

 fertilizers with or without any foreign admixtures. The first- 

 named conditions are quite frequently in a considerable 

 degree beyond the control of the manufacturer of poudrette. 

 There are sometimes four different kinds of poudrette offered 

 for sale : — 



I. Blood or Meat Poudrettes, which are manufactured from 

 the solid portion of the human excretions, with the addition 

 of blood and refuse meat from the slaughter-house, or the 

 carcasses of dead animals. They are usually sold in a dry 

 and pulverized state. 



II. Simple Poudrettes, which consist of the dried, pulver- 

 ized, solid human excretions. 



III. Humid Poudrettes. These consist usually of the 

 entire contents of the vaults, which, after being deodorized, 

 are left in large tanks for evaporation by mere exposure, or 

 receive additions of gypsum, &c., as absorbers of moisture. 



IV. Compost Poudrettes. The following course is fre- 

 quently pursued in their manufacture : the sweepings of the 

 streets, ashes, refuse lime from gas-houses, and various other 

 suitable refuse materials of factories, &c., are screened, to 

 remove stones and other worthless materials. The screened 

 mass is subsequently filled in alternate layers with deodorized 



