M4 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



the desired results. The profit of this business in 

 X' ranee, alone, would be sulficient proof of the 

 greater value of the lar more simple, economical 

 and effectual and cleanl_v plan which I recommend, 

 and vvhich is also perlei;tly in accordiince willi the 

 chemical properties and action of the substances 

 used in the compound. I annex the only known 

 description of the French process, below, in the ap- 

 plication for a patent by tiie invenldV, Donat, and 

 which was communicated, with the introductory 

 comments, by the Board of Health of Philadel- 

 phia, to the Agricultural Society ot' Pennsylvania. 



French method of preparijig poudrciie and urate for 

 - man are. 

 ^ To the Pennsylvania JgrlcuUural Society. 



'The attention of the Philadelphia Board of Health 

 has been earnestly directed towaids discovering some 

 mode of disposing of the contents of privies, which 

 would remove from the precincts of our city, where 

 thedepositesare made, a nuisance at present of" a very 

 formidable character, and which roust necessarily in- 

 crease. In pursuance of this object, the ' board has 

 concluded, that an eilcctual remedy for the evil is only 

 to be sought in the convefsion of'the otiensive sub- 

 stance into inodorous mamires, alter the methods now 

 successfully practised in many parts of Europe, and 

 especially in the cities of Paris and London. 



'The principle by vvhich. this object is effected,, is 

 simple, and consists in the drying, or desiccation of 

 the urinary and fcEcal matters, either apart or together, 

 by the addition of certain absorbent substances, such 

 as plaister, lime, chalk, ashes. &c. It is probable that 

 the ashes of the Lehigh and Schuylkill coal may be 

 thus usefully disposed of. Ttie manure pr'epaied from 

 the foecal or more solid contents of privies, has long 

 been known and highly esteemed by the gardeners and 

 agriculturalists of "j-Vance, under "tlie liame of pou- 

 dretie. That prepared from the urinous portion is com- 

 paratively of modern invention, and is called urate. 



'Aware that such a plan is not to be. carried into ef- 

 fect under the special direction of either your society 

 or their own body, the board lays the subject before 

 you, in the hope that its advantages will be properly 

 investigated and made known, so as to lead to useful 

 results; for, surely, nothing can be more worthy oi 

 general and special encouragement, than a plan not 

 only calculated to promote the health and comfort of 

 our large community, but to render essential assistance 

 to the most important of the useful arts, insuring at 

 the same time liberal profits to those actually engaged 

 in its execution. 



'That your society may be placed in possession of 

 more particular information relative to the subject un- 

 der consideration, the board would refer 'you to 

 numerous highly favorable reports and interestino- 

 proceedings_ of the most respectable associations 

 established in Europe for the encouragement of agri- 

 cultural and useful arts, among which we would espe- 

 cially call your attention to those of the French "Roy-, 

 al and Central Agricultural Society," and the "Society 

 for the Encouragement of National Industry," during 

 the years 1818-19-20, 



'The following translation of a French document, fur- 

 nishes an accurate detail of the process by which the 

 urate is manufactured, and throws much important 

 light upon the subject generally : 



"Certificate granted upon the application for a bre- 

 vet [patent] of invention, to M. Donat, (Joseph Eti- 

 enne- Victor-Gabriel,) residing at Paris, department of 

 the Seine. 



"The iVIinisterial Secretary of the state, for the de- 

 partment of the interior, considering the JMemoir of 

 M. Donat, proprietory, residing in Paris, Rue des 

 Bons-Enfans, No. 28, in which he states his desire to 

 j?njoy the proper rights secured by the law of the 7th 



of January, 1791, to the authors of inventions and dis- 

 coveries in all kinds of industry, and to obtain in con- 

 sequence, a brevet of invention for fifteen years, for 

 the sudden drying of the urinary portion, and manipu- 

 lation of the contents of privits, within the twenty 

 tour hours succeeding their removal; ail by particular 

 means and processes, of which he declares himself the 

 author, as it appears fiom the vcibai process addressed 

 at the time, to the depot of doculmcnts attached to the 

 secretaryship Of the department ol the Seine, the 19th 

 of Januar.y, 1819. 



"Coiisitiering the designs of the apparatus, and the 

 descriptive memoir of wiiich the following is a copy, 



"I have contrived a plan which affords me the means 

 of extracting from urinary andlcecal matters, a manure 

 very superior to those hitherto known. Desirous of 

 securing to myself the exclusive enjoyment of my in- 

 vention, I have made application to the prefecture, de- 

 partment of the Seine, conlormably 'to the laws of the 

 7th of January and 25th of May, 1791, for a brevet of 

 15 years, for the -complete and imn^ediate desiccation 

 of Icocal and urinary matters -together, or separately, 

 by means of absorbents which 1 add, such as lime, 

 plaister, chalk, marl, ashes either natural or ndneral, 

 such as are taken iiom the dilierent ash mines. Sub- 

 stances having calcareous bases may be calcined for 

 the absorption of a greater quantity of liquid, at least 

 when- the high price of the combustible, or the low 

 price of the absorbent, do not otier greater advantages 

 in using it directly fiom the quarry. 



"This variety of absorbent -substances, assures to 

 ?very country, the means of manufacturing a very 

 abundant and active manure with human dejections. 

 The product of my operations is inodorous, for two 

 xeasons : The first is, that when urine is employed, it 

 gives out no odor after the absorption of its moisture : 

 The second is, when the fcecal matters are sufficiently 

 mixed with the absorbent, I bury them at least 18 

 inches deep, to prevent ff.e disengagement of the odor 

 daring the fermentation necessary to the good quality 

 of the manure. ' 



"1 give to the manure made with pure urine and one 

 of the aforesaid substances, the name of urate I be- 

 lieve that this composition, mixed or combined with 

 that resulting from the combination of fcecal matters 

 with a certain .quantity of one of the aforesaid absor- 

 bent matters, produces a manure of great activity. 

 The only difficult point is, to ascertain the proper pro- 

 portions for the admi:xture. 



"For the manufacture of the urate on a large scale, 

 it is necessary to construct at least six basins, in form 

 of a watch glass, inverted. They should hold about 

 12 hectolitres, (about 300 gallons,) of which there will 

 be six of urine and six of the absorbent matter of one 

 of the kinds formerly designated, freshly calcined. 



-"The cask or vessel holding the urine, is to be so 

 placed that it will empty itself through its bung into 

 the basin. During this operation, one workman is em- 

 ployed in pouring in the plaister, another in mixing it 

 ill the basin with a rake or scraper. 



"When the mixture is finished, the operators pass to 

 another, and so on to the sixth. Then the first is emp- 

 tied for the purpose of commencing operations anew. 

 The mixture is finished by further drying in the air. 



"At the end of the day, the quantity of urate which 

 has been made since morning, is to be broken down by 

 moans of a cast iron cylinder rolled over it; after which 

 it is sifted, (passfe a. la double claie,) and then immedi- 

 ately stored or packed up, to prevent the absorption of 

 moisture. 



"By this combination, the urine being dried by its 

 union with the absorbent matter, which is itself a 

 manure, unites all the vegetative powers of its two 

 component parts, and will constitute the most produc- 

 tive of all our manures, in consequence of the very 

 small quantity that is necessary to employ to procure 

 fhe best results. 



