393 



Loss OF FERTILIZING PROPERTIES IN HEN-DUNG.— lu Italy the 



manure of fowls and pigeons is an article of commerce. Professor 

 Sestiui has been examining- the comparative, values of fresh dung and 

 of that which is sold, and finds the principal difference to be that fresh 

 dung contains (51 per cent, of water, while the commercial article has 

 only 25, or less. By long exposure to dry air, five-sixths of tlie 

 ammonia was dissipated. To prevent this loss, experiments were made 

 with plaster, green vitriol, and clay, finely pulverized, and exposed to 

 ammonia vapor for twenty-four hours. The vitriol absorbed 5.5 grams, 

 the plaster 5 grams, the clay 4.9 grams. These substances were next 

 mixed with fowl-dung, and exposed for a month in chambers where the 

 escaping gases could be collected, with similar results. A strong odor 

 of ammonia could be perceived arising from the clay mixture, but very 

 little from the other two. Fungi dcveloi)ed rapidly on the mixtures of 

 clay and plaster, but not on that containing vitriol. It is well known, 

 that these i)arasites depreciate the value of nitrogenous manures. - The 

 Ijractical deductions were, that the dung should be collected weekly and 

 placed in covered vessels, each layer being sprinkled with about 5 per 

 cent, of green vitriol. As to its commercial value, it is much poorer 

 than guano in nitrogen and phosphates. 



DESIAJ^D FOE AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS IN 'NbW SOUTH WALES. 



— Mr. Jules Joubert, secretary of the Agricultural Society of New South 

 Wales, in an official communication addressed to this Department, 

 represents that in that colony there is an urgent demand for improved 

 agricultural implements and labor-saving machinery ; but as yet it has 

 neither the facilities nor the requisite skill for manufacturing them. 

 Hitherto imports from this country have been limited to lumber, furniture, 

 and a few land-mills ; but he expresses the opinion that a well assorted 

 exhibition of American, implements, inventions, and labor saving 

 machinery would not only be a great attraction in the colony, but 

 result in opening an extensive and profitable market for most of the 

 articles exhibited. He is instructed by the society to state that, should 

 any responsible individual or company in the United States desire to 

 make trial of the plan suggested as a business enterprise, they have a 

 spacious building adapted to the purpose, located in the Prince Albert 

 park, Sydney, which w^ould be placed at the disposal of the same, to- 

 gether with every other facility at their command. 



Irrigation in Colorado. — A correspondent from El Paso County, 

 Colorado Territory, reports that irrigation of the natural grasses is 

 coming into practice, and enough has already been done to demonstrate 

 that in the course of three or four years upland can thus be made to 

 produce from two to three tons of hay per acre ; the natural grass giving 

 place to the blue grass, which makes excellent hay. 



Epizootic APHiHiE. — This disease is reported as spreading in Marion 

 County, Arkansas ; but it is in a mild form, and very few cases i>rove 

 fatal. 



Eelations of local diseases to the nature op the soil. — Dr. 

 Moffat has read before the British Association a paper on the above 

 subject, in which he shows that the nature of the soil exercises consider- 

 able iulluence on the character of endemic disease. His district lies on 

 the carboniferous and red, or Cheshire, sandstone formation. Angsmia 

 is the prevailing condition of the inhabitants of the carboniferous land, 

 who are both miners and farmers, while it is almost unknown on the red 



