248 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Sept. 



civilized, communities was even far in advance of that exist- 

 ing among European nations, — at least, until the beginning 

 of the present century, when the more systematic research 

 of modern agriculturists was soon rewarded by a correspond- 

 ingly rapid improvement in the practice of farming. From 

 the earliest dates in their history, the Chinese appear to have 

 been strict economists in respect to manures, the filth of the 

 cities being most scrupulously collected for the enrichment 

 of surrounding lands. Several passages in the Bible prove 

 that Eastern nations were also aware of the importance of 

 manures, and that the Romans were in the habit of employ- 

 ing them, is evident from the writings of Virgil ; especially 

 where, in his first Georgic,* he recommended the use of 

 ordure, and of ashes, to fertihze the exhausted fields. 



In no place, probably, are natural manures more religiously 

 farmed than in the Channel Islands, on the coast of Nor- 

 mandy, celebrated for their rich pastures and excellent breed 

 of cattle ; and on the Jersey coasts, the extensive flats, exist- 

 ing between high and Ioav water-mark, are actually portioned 

 out into lots belonging to the different farmers, who, in the 

 autumn season, — for the law only then permits its removal, — 

 gather in the rank sea-week (termed Vrjack) as scrupulously 

 as they harvest the produce of their fields, wliich mainly owe 

 their fertility to the rich saline ashes resulting from the com- 

 bustion of the sea-weed, itself a minute fragment of the 

 enormous waste constantly poured into the sea from the rivers 

 upon which London and other great cities are situated. f In- 

 numerable have been the plans proposed by engineers and 

 men of science for the utilization of this vast waste of animal 

 products ; and the partial success already attained begins to 



* •■' Sed tamen alteris facilis labor, arida tantum 

 Xe saturare fimo pingui pudeat sola, neve 

 EfFetos ciuerem immundum jactare per agros," 



Georgicon, lib. i;, lines 79-81. 



t From Horace's epithet " vilior alga," it is probable that the Romans 

 Were not aware of the fertilizing properties of sea-weed The stigma 

 implied can no longer apply to the source of so many valuable salts, and 

 of so much productiveness when used as a manure. 



