96 A TREATISE ON THE CONNECTION OF 



dung may be obtained than by the other practice of 

 keeping a less number of .cattle, and littering them with 

 straw. 



When peat cannot be had, the richest and blackest 

 mould should be procured, that the volatile alkali of 

 the urine may acl: upon and dissolve, into a mucilagi- 

 nous gummy liquor, the oxygenated inert vegetable 

 matter contained in such mould. Peat, however, is .to be 

 preferred, because it contains a more abundant propor- 

 tion of oxygenated vegetable matter for the volatile al- 

 kali to act upon. 



These are not to be considered as theoretical state- 

 ments, but the result of actual experiments, attentively 

 made in Scotland. The quantity of manure made in the 

 same given time was much greater than if litter had t>een 

 used ; and the manure procured was infinitely more rich 

 and valuable. These experiments were not confined to 

 the dung and urine of cattle, but the chamber-lye of the 

 family was carefully preserved, and mixed also with a 

 due proportion of oxygenated peat, which was found to 

 produce a greater effect in dissolving the peat than the 



,uri-ne from the cattle. 



The 



