130 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



tainly can form no satisfactory opinion upon the 

 subject. 



How can this evil be met and overcome ? Leg- 

 islation has thus far failed to afford a remedy, and 

 it is extremely difficult to circumvent human self- 

 ishness and ingenuity by statute laws. There are 

 only two ways : one is to have all fertilizing agents 

 of home production, of domestic manufacture; the 

 other is, to form associations among farmers, estab- 

 lish factories, and prepare the agents only for use 

 among those who are interested in their production. 

 The motive of gain must be taken away or re- 

 moved in some way, before the valuable plant 

 stimulants will come into our hands in such a con- 

 dition that they can be employed with confidence 

 and success. 



Stable dung is sold upon an improper or wrong 

 basis, the price being fixed on bulk with little or no 

 reference to quality. Now, we know that the sta- 

 ble manure from one cellar or vault may be, and 

 often is, worth double that taken from another. A 

 man who feeds his horse or other animals upon run 

 hay, and stints the use of grain, supplies to the 

 purchaser or user a very poor article of excrement ; 

 and in livery stables the straw and litter serve to 

 give great bulk, but little weight or substance, to 

 the product of the yard or vault. I have ascer- 

 tained by experiment, that excrementitious ma- 



