87 



somewhat troublesome, yet it is maintained that the result sufficiently 

 Vindicates the propriety of the process, and that in the greater perfec- 

 tion of the eggs, and the improved health of the worms, and better 

 quality and quantity of the silk, there is a decided superiority in the 

 new system. 



JSTew parasite of the spkuce. — ^Much interest has been excited 

 among botanists by the rapid development upon the black spruce and 

 balsam firs of Northern ]N'ew York of a parasitic plant belonging to the 

 genus Arcentliohimn, related to the mistletoe. In the vicinity of yVar- 

 reusburgh about 75 per cent, of all the Ahies were found to be infested, 

 groups of forest trees forty feet in height being dead and bearing the 

 peculiar marks of the infection. Dr. Gray remarks that what is curious 

 about the discovery is, first, that it should not have been made before 5 

 and second, that it should, after all this overlooking, be found during 

 the same season by two persons, in three different counties, and so 

 abundant as to distigure or even to destroy the trees it infests. 



HuANO MANURE. — An important improvement in the manufacture 

 of artificial guanos, the discovery of which affords for many cases a 

 practical solution of the difiiculty of disposing of sewage, has just 

 been announced in Great Britain, having reference to a substance called 

 Huauo manure. This material, it is claimed, is as rich as Peruvian 

 guano, and it« manufacturers fuinish a guarantee to that effect. It is 

 worth, according to the scale of fertilizers, from $40 to $15 i)er ton, 

 although its first cost, as m.auufactured, is less than $13 per ton. In 

 the course of inquiries leading to the invention in question, it was first 

 ascertained that Portland cement transforms night-soil into stone, which, 

 upou being crushed, gives 18 per cent, of phosphate of lime; and when 

 applied as a manure for growing turnips, has produced 20 tons to the 

 acre. Owing to the insoluble nature of the phosphates, however, the 

 action was slow, and the next step in the process was to utilize this 

 property of cementation in the superphosphate manufacture, in which 

 night-soil is substituted for water in the decomposition of the phos- 

 phates. During this process the phosphates part with the two portions 

 of their lime, uniting with sulphuric acid to form sulphate of lime, 

 (plaster of Paris,) from which is derived the valuable property of 

 cementing night-soil from a liquid into a solid mass. This solidification 

 produces simultaneous deodorization, removing all offensive and foul 

 effluvia, as well as any capability of giving out deleterious gases, and 

 such powers of destruction are transformed into fertilizing endowments. 

 It will thus be seen that cementation lawfully usurps the place hitherto 

 occupied by fermentation and evaporation, and hydrates all the moist- 

 ure — which, being chietiy urine, possesses manurial value to the last 

 drop — together with the incorporation of the whole of the ammonia, 

 alkaline salts, and other valuable constituents existing in the night-soil. 



The inventor, Mr. Hughan, has made arrangements with an extensive 

 manufacturer of superphosphates to carry on the i^rocess, and great 

 expectations are expressed as to the value of the results to be antici- 

 pated. The advantages of working the new patent, in connection wath 

 such a manufacture, are : 1. The night-soil gives that pasty condition 

 to phosphates essential to the reception and dilution of the acid employed 

 in superphosphate manufacture. 2. The phosphates are increased one- 

 fourth in quantity from the alkaline phos])hates and phosphoric acid of 

 the soil; thus, if 75 units 'of idiosphate of lime are introduced, 100 are 

 withdrawn. 3. The phosphates receive a new supply of nitrogen equal 

 tofrom 2 to 4 per cent, of ammonia fi cm the soil. 4. The phosphates obtain 



