AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 323 



water cart. By applications of liquid manure by tins method, he accom- 

 plished the feat of raising, on a well drained acre of ground, previously in 

 good condition, one hundred tons of green crop of Italian rye grass and 

 clover within a year. For the distribution of plain water, as well as manure, 

 taking into account the expense of the original formation of water meadows, 

 as well as other expenses, it now appears to be decided in England, that 

 this method of distribution by hose will be found to be cheaper, particu- 

 larly when carried out on a large scale, and Avhen the collateral economies 

 are considered, than by the cheapest instances of the water meadow system. 

 Mr. Meehi says, in a recent report made by' him: I have already one 

 hundred acres finished for liquid manure distribution, and shall finish one 

 hundred and seventy acres in about a fortnight. There will be about 1,100 

 iron three inch pipes, three yards long, making a total length of nearly 

 two miles ; each pipe weighs 119 lbs., so that 55 tons of iron piping will 

 be about the quantity. My pair of pumps are of 20 inch stroke and 5;^ 

 inches diameter, capable of raising and discharging about 80 gallons per 

 minute. My great tank is about the size of a small chapel, 30 feet deep 

 and 30 feet diameter at the widest part. My bog spring, of 30,000 gallons 

 per diem, falls into the tank. I shall expend $3,000 for the one hundred 

 and seventy acres, which will cover the expense of tank, pumps, pipage, 

 gutfa percha hose, and every expense except the steam engine, which I 

 have already. The pipes are joined with tarred rope and boiling lead, 

 like the common street water pipes, and placed in the ground 18 inches 

 deep. There will be one hydrant or iron supply post for QYery 11 acres ; 

 200 yards of gutta percha pipe (half two inch, half one and a half inch,) 

 will reach any part of the farm. The pumps will be enabled by means of 

 various taps, to distribute either liquid manure or plain water, as may be 

 found desirable. A man and lad dispose of six hundred hogsheads per 

 diem, enough for ten acres. The cost of the application, including inter- 

 est on capital, engineer's pay, man and boy in the field, and coals would 

 be 13 shillings, $3,25 ; about 33 cents per acre, will more than cover the 

 whole cost of applying 150 tons of manure on 10 acres of land. This ex- 

 pense is ridiculously small, in comparison with the ordinary cost and wasta. 

 Mr. Mechi says: "How frequently I am told by observant agricultu- 

 rists, that although they have constructed tanks for the preservation 

 of liquid manure, they could never perceive any good result from its appli- 

 cation. To doubt the value of liquid excrements, would be to deny the 

 utility of the sheepfold, and to disbelieve in the science of agriculture. 

 The great mistake, he says, is in using it insufiiciently diluted, on a grow- 

 ing crop. Its strength and pungency are injurious to the roots of growing 

 plants. The urine of a cow, or horse, falling in dry, hot weather, on 

 young clover, destroys it. With respect to the necessary dilution of our 

 manure, you can hardly dilute it too much ; say one hogshead of liquid 

 manure to fifty hogsheads of water. The soluble form is the only true and 

 profitable principle, searching, warming, and fructifying the barren subsoil 

 by aeration, irrigation, and disintegration. When we, as agriculturists, 



