268 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Farmers, generally, mismanage their solid manures, hj their long reten- 

 tion on the surface, and consequent evaporation of their fertilizing quali- 

 ties, to the extent, frequently, of more than two-thirds, and their liquid 

 manures are, invariably, directed to the nearest stream, being considered a 

 nuisance in the barn-yard. 



Take it for granted that in every case where the dung of the stable, and 

 of the cattle yards, are exposed in heaps to the atmosphere, and where the 

 washings from it, with the urine of the cattle, are permitted to run off, 

 that the loss of production that might be derived from a different applica- 

 tion of the manures, is fully equal to the rent of the farm. 



You have always considered that only as manure that you could raise 

 into your wagons with a fork, but you must now consider that which may 

 be applied with the scoop, the main stay of your agricultural operations. 

 And, instead of requiring it dark, strong and foetid, let it be light, trans- 

 parent, and devoid of smell. 



There are certain adjustments established between the physical and 

 organic kingdom, which it would be well to bear in mind. We are aware 

 that atmospheric air is equally necessary to the life of animals and plants, 

 but that they produce o] posite changes in the chemical constitution of the 

 air. The plant gives off as excrementitious that principle of the air on 

 which the animal mainly subsists, and lives upon that part which the ani- 

 mal rejects as excrementitious, while the animal, in turn, gives back to the 

 air the precise principle which constitutes the food of the plant, and sub- 

 sists on that which the plant has rejected as no longer of service to it. In 

 this way these two classes of organized beings renovate the atmosphere for 

 each other, and eternally maintain it for each other in a state of richness 

 and purity. On this magnificent adjustment depends the principle that the 

 refuse of the materials which have served us as food and clothing, and 

 which, if permitted to accumulate, invariably taint the atmosphere, and 

 cause it to become pestilential, if liquified and promptly spread on the sur- 

 face of the ground, not only give it fruitfulness, but clothe it with luxuri- 

 ance, and endue it with inexhaustible healthfulness. A due conformity to 

 these great laws of nature would bring us happiness, plenty, health and 

 wealth, but which we cannot disregard any more than any other physical 

 law of nature without suffering. As is instanced, daily, in this great city 

 of New York, here we find the streets abounding with filth, the air foetid, 

 typhus and other epidemic diseases rife among the people, bringing in their 

 train destitution, want and misery, all arising from the presence of the very 

 richest materials of production, the absence of which would restore health, 

 avert disease, and if applied to the land, cheapen food by promoting abun- 

 dance. Our suburbs are poor, and thinly clad with vegetation, except 

 plants favored by moisture, the population few, and they afilicted with 

 rheumatism and other kindred diseases, arising from an excess of water, 

 which might be dia'.ned by some well considered plan, that would not press 

 with severity on any of the owners, and thus benefit posterity as well as 

 the present generation. The moral influence of filth and discomfort in our 



