244 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Nitrogen, 



Sulphur and chlorine, 



Metallic oxides, 



Silica, 



Potash and soda, 



Phosphoric acid, 



Lime and magnesia, . . 



lbs. 



2,312 



87 



6 



166 



827 



1,713 



3,158 



This table shows conclusively, ihat if all the excrementitious matters of 

 our population could be returned to the soil, instead of being wasted in the 

 rivers, it would maintain in fertility as many acres as there are inhabitants. 

 The refuse of New York contains an immense quantity of valuable sub- 

 stances not included in the above table. 



For example, refuse from manufactories, alkali contained in soap makers 

 waste, manure of cows, pigs, cattle, horses, blood from the butchers' sham- 

 bles, etc. 



And if we were permitted to use these manures, the amount of food which 

 a given field could be made to yield, would depend upon the crop raised. 

 For instance, thirty bushels of wheat will produce fourteen hundred pounds 

 of extra flour, while a crop of twelve thousand pounds of potatoes will give 

 four thousand four hundred pounds of agreeable mealy food. Thus you 

 perceive the gross weight of production in the one case is three times what 

 it is in the other. 



You will find further, that if you enrich two fields precisely alike, and 

 grow upon one grass, and upon the other potatoes, turnips, or cabbages, 

 you will have three times as much food from the latter as from the former. 

 But from experience, notwithstanding more food is raised by cultivating 

 the land to arable purposes, and more persons may be sustained by it, yet, 

 more money may be made by converting the laud into meadow, particularly 

 where a ready market is at hand for the hay, and where an abundance of 

 manure can be obtained to top dress the meadow, annually. Farmers at a 

 distance, from hay markets, will find it more profitable to rear and fixtten 

 cattle, and make butter and cheese, than to raise and export the fertility of 

 their lands in the shape of cereal grains. Farmers find that the influence 

 of seasons have a great effect upon crops, and cannot be overcome ; the enor- 

 mous crop of one year may not be gathered the next, because a warm, cold, 

 wet, or dry season may interfere with its growth. And yet science seems 

 to say that superior husbandry and experimental research, will do much, 



