COMPOST OF DEAD ANIMALS. 275 



point of view, besides rendering the products of the soil more 

 plentiful and cheap. 



If, in this writing, we have introduced subjects not strictly 

 relevent, our apology must be that in our earnestness and zeal, 

 whenever the matter of enriching the soil is discussed in our 

 presence, rises almost to enthusiasm ; aye, quite up to that 

 point, when we are permitted to participate in the discussion. 

 We cannot now close without making one earnest appeal to our 

 city friends to be more provident and careful to save what is 

 named at the head of this writing, and in a manner that it may 

 be conveyed to the soil without loss to him who performs the 

 (in some respects,) disagreeable labor, or cease to complain of 

 high prices of farm products. 



We firmly believe in a law of compensation ; that God has 

 wisely ordered that the ground on which we tread shall produce 

 an abundance for the use of man and beast so long as an appro- 

 priate return is made therefor ; that this return is to be made 

 in just such materials as is not healthful or agreeable remaining 

 above the surface of the earth. Decaying vegetables and plants 

 of almost every description can bo used for plant-food. The 

 excrements, both solid and liquid, of all animals are at present 

 our great dependence. 



Dead animals, not to be used for food, should always, if prac- 

 ticable, become an ingredient in the compost heap, and well cov- 

 ered and encircled all round with earthy substances. Decom- 

 posed flesh is the most powerful of all fertilizers, and next that 

 which is available to us in quantities which renders it of much 

 account, in point of concentrated fertility, is night soil. We 

 therefore urge upon all, whenever and wherever practicable and 

 feasible, to let as little of the article be lost, and save as much 

 as possible under existing circumstances. 



Cheap and wholesome food is by the middling and poorer 

 classes always received gratefully, and it is those classes which 

 in the main produce the wealth of the nation, drawing it directly 

 or indirectly from mother earth. Let us therefore keep up the 

 reciprocity, returning to the mother all which she has a right to 

 claim in order that she may yield an abundance for the suste- 

 nance of her children. 



Asa Clement, 



For the Commillee. 



