MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 



it will be seen that, for various reasons, commer- 

 cial fertilizers cannot wholly or even largely take 

 the place of stable manure, while they are never- 

 theless much esteemed for use in combination 

 with it. Since the use of commercial fertilizers 

 has become general the price of stable manure 

 has decreased; and while the convenience of 

 procuring the former makes them more particu- 

 larly convenient and valuable to the stock-feeding 

 farmers (who are generally remote from the city), 

 their introduction has also been of much benefit 

 to the gardeners near the large cities, in thus 

 reducing the cost of stable manure. The price 

 would be even lower than it is, were it not for the 

 fact that large quantities are now shipped by the 

 car-load from the cities to distant points, a 

 business which has grown extensively in volume 

 the past few years. 



The old-fashioned privy-vault or cesspool is 

 a source of supply once largely depended upon, 

 but now only rarely met with.; as the general 

 extension of water-works to all the more compact 

 centres of population, and even to isolated country 

 houses, has caused a discontinuance of the earlier 

 practice of allowing night-soil to accumulate, 



[55] 



