182 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



leached are sufficient for five bushels of muck. Lime, also, acts 

 favorably on muck, and one bushel, slaked with brine, will 

 sweeten and render fit for use ten bushels of the vegetable mat- 

 ter. The mechanical effect of muck on the soil must not be 

 passed by unnoticed. A loose, gravelly or sandy soil is rendered 

 more compact and moist, and a stiff clay more friable and less 

 likely to bake and crack. 



As the second neglected source of manure, we will mention 

 the refuse of the sink and the slops of the house generally.- 

 As we see them carelessly thrown around many houses, they 

 are redolent with the seeds of death, but appropriately used are 

 abundant with the elements of vegetable life. To dispose of 

 them in the most ' sanitary and economical manner, should 

 demand attention from every householder. Health and thrift 

 equally require this. Few substances ferment more rapidly 

 and produce a more vitiated air, than soap-suds and the slops 

 of the chamber. The very fact that they taint the air so badly, 

 is proof positive that they contain the elements of fertility, and 

 it is a pity that so few heed the admonitions of that delicate 

 chemical instrument, the nose, and pay so little attention to 

 this source of fruitfulness for the soil and sickness to the 

 family. When the premises are so situated that it can conven- 

 iently be done, the best mode probably of disposing of this 

 refuse, is to conduct it by a drain to the barn cellar, where it 

 can be absorbed by muck, charcoal dust or other absorbent. 

 Where the barn is located at too great a distance or elevation, a 

 cess-pool should be dug at some convenient point, and if kept 

 well lined with some absorbent, the amount and quality of 

 manure that can be thus manufactured will surprise those who 

 have not tried it. Care must be taken to furnish the outlet of 

 the sink with proper valves, so that the gases from the pool may 

 not return into the house to the disgust of the olfactory nerves 

 of all the household. The manure thus made is good every- 

 where, but we have found it specially efficient in growing 

 cucumbers, squashes, &c. 



Another neglected source of fertility is night soil. Partly 

 from ignorance of its value and partly from prejudice, night soil 

 has never received that attention in this country which its merits 

 deserve. By most families it is considered a nuisance, to be 

 abated as best it may, often by a bonus to any one who will 



