167 



for emptying. A fresh quantity of water is added, 

 the whole mass is again stirred and most intimately 

 mixed together in short, treated exactly like the 

 first process ; and this is repeated till the cask is 

 full, when the mass is left, according to the state of 

 the weather, for two or three weeks longer, or until 

 required for use ; but under *no circumstance is the 

 manure ever employed in the fresh state. 



This entire course of proceeding clearly shows 

 that the Japanese are no believers in the nitrogen 

 theory, but care only for the solid ingredients of the 

 dung. They leave the ammonia exposed to de- 

 composition by the action of the sun and volatilization 

 by the wind, but take the greater care to prevent the 

 solid ingredients from being wasted or swept away 

 by rain, &c. 



As the peasant, however, pays his rent to his 

 landlord not in cash, but in a certain stipulated 

 percentage of the produce of his fields, he argues 

 quite logically that the supply of manure from his 

 privy must necessarily be insufficient to prevent the 

 gradual exhaustion of his soil, notwithstanding its 

 marvellous richness, and despite the additional 

 supply of manuring matter derived from the 

 water of the brook or canal which irrigates 

 his fields. He places, therefore, wherever his field 

 is bordered by public roads, footpaths, &c., casks 

 or pots buried in the ground almost to the rim, 

 with a request to the travelling public to use them. 



