328 



I have known $6 50 paid per cord for stable manure taken 

 at the stable ; and a farmer, whose soundness of judgment in 



ure consumed by this or that plant is expressed in hundredth parts, and 

 yet we know not what manure is. 



" If we admit that the liquid and solid excrements of man, amount on an 

 average to li lbs. daily (5-4 urine and | lb. feces) and that both taken to- 

 gether contain 3 per cent of nitrogen — then in one year they will amount to 

 547 lbs. which contain 16.41 lbs. of nitrogen, a quantity sufficient to yield 

 the nitrogen of 800 lbs. of wheat, rye, oats, or of 900 lbs. of barley.'' 

 — Boussingault. 



" This is much more than it is necessary to add to an acre of land, in 

 order to obtain, with the assistance of the nitrogen absorbed from the at- 

 mosphere, the richest possible crop every year. Every town and farm 

 might thus supply itself with the manure, whicii, besides containing the 

 most nitrogen, contains also the most phosphates ; and if an alternation of 

 crops were adopted they would be most abundant. By using at the same 

 time bones, and the lixiviated ashes of wood, the excrements of animals 

 might be completely dispensed with. 



" The urine of horses contains less nitrogen and phosphates than that of 

 man. According to Fourcroy and Vauquelin, it contains only five per cent, 

 of solid matter, and in that quantity only 0.7 of urea, whilst 100 parts of 

 the urine of man contain more than four times as much. 



" The urine of a cow is particularly rich in salts of potash ; but according 

 to Rouelle and Brande, it is almost destitute of salts of soda. The urine 

 of swine contains a large quantity of the phosphate of magnesia and am- 

 monia, 



" When it is considered that with every pound of ammonia whicli evapo- 

 rates, a loss of GO lbs. of corn is sustained; and tliat with every pound of urine 

 a pound of wheat might be produced, the indifference with which these liquid 

 excrements are regarded, is quite incomprehensible. Inmost places only 

 the solid excrements impregnated with the liquid are used, and the dung- 

 bills containing them are protected neither from evaporation nor from rain. 

 The solid excrements contain the insoluble, the liquid all the soluble phos- 

 phates : and the latter contain likewise all the potash which existed as or- 

 ganic salts in the plants consumed by the animals." — Liebig's Agricultural 

 Chemistry. 



I have quoted the above from this valuable work, of which a full account 

 will be given in the Appendix. 1 commend this work to the perusal of ev- 

 ery intelligent farmer. It is full of instruction, and of stimulants and food 

 for inquiry. It is in the highest degree creditable to our agricultural com- 

 munity, that two large editions of this work, published in this country by 

 Prof Webster of Harvard University, with valuable notes, have been dis- 

 posed of, and a third is forthcoming. 



