THE FARMER AT HOME 297 



absurd prejudices are entertained by the laboring classes ; such as the 

 imaginary taste it imparts to vegetables, when added to the soil ; and 

 in the earliest authorities, it is mentioned with cautious reserve. 

 Long experience, however, has taught many nations the value of this 

 manure. In China it is preserved with the greatest care, mixed 

 with a fat marl ; and according to Sir George Staunton, is made into 

 cakes, which after being dried in the sun, constitute a regular article 

 of traffic between the citizens and the cultivators of that singular 

 empire. The same useful practice is carried on in Belgium. What 

 we too often throw into our rivers, or allow to waste itself in the open 

 air, or in deep vaults, the more thoughtful Belgians turn to account ; 

 what is a nuisance in American cities, is a source of revenue at 

 Brussels. 



The best mode of preparing night-soil for use is by mixing it with 

 powdered charcoal, half burnt peet, or soil that is rich in vegetable 

 matter. Quick lime has been applied to it for a similar purpose ; 

 but, although it destroys the odor, it dissipates, at the same time, a 

 large portion of the ammonia. During the decomposition of night soil, 

 an evolution of carbonic acid, ammonia, sulphureted and phosphu- 

 reted hydrogen takes place. After the escape of these gases, the odor 

 ceases, and the remainder, when dried, constitutes what is sold in 

 large cities under the name of poudrette. The odor of recent night- 

 soil may be destroyed, and the volatile elements retained, by adding 

 to it gypsum, or dilute sulphuric acid. This manure is used in the 

 form of compost and as a top dressing in the form of poudrette. One 

 of our most scientific writers remarks, that rich as are the liquid eva- 

 cuations of the barn-yard and horse-stable, they are surpassed by those 

 of the farmer's own dwelling, especially when it is considered with 

 what ease these last may be preserved. If it be a fact, that each 

 man, as asserted, evacuates annually, enough to manure an acre of 

 land, it is easy to form some estimate how much might be added to 

 our agricultural products without material increase of labor, if all the 

 night-soil of the country, in cities especially, were properly saved. 



NITRE. Saltpetre ; a perfect neutral salt, formed by the union 

 of the nitrous acid with the fixed alkali of tartar. It is found im- 

 mersed in imperceptible particles, in earthy substances, as the parti- 

 cles of metals in their ores ; but sometimes it is gathered native and 

 pure, in the form of an efflorescence, or shapeless salt, either on its 

 ore, or on old walls. The earth from which nitre is made, both in 

 Persia and the East Indies, is a kind of marl, found on the bare sides 

 of hills exposed to the northern or eastern winds, and never in any 

 other situation. The people of those countries collect large quantities 

 of this earth ; and having a large and deep pit, lined with a hard and 

 tenacious kind of clay, they fill it half full of water, and into this they 

 throw the earth. When this is broken and moulded to powder, they 

 add more water, and, mixing the whole together, suffer it to remain 

 13* 



