NIGHT-SOIL. 



NIGHT-SOIL. 



water-tight), once a year for nothing, and pays, j 

 moreover, 6 francs per charette, containing 96 

 baqvets, of the capacity of 4 gallons each. This ' 

 quantity the company sells afterwards to the j 

 farmers for ten francs. (The capacity of the J 

 charette being to that of a ton as 28,772 ounces I 

 are to 35,840, it follows that the price of a ton 

 at Strasburg would be 10s.) Now, as there are | 

 14,000 houses in Strasburg, 10,000 of which 

 have cesspools affording the soil in question 

 (which is always semi-liquid), supposing the 

 latter to be emptied only once a year, and to 

 furnish each 3 charettrs only, at six francs, 

 we have 10,000 X 6 X 3 = 180,000 francs, which 

 the company pays yearly to the inhabitants of 

 a town having a population of 70,000 souls. 

 But as the company resell to the farmer the 

 said soil for manuring purposes, at ten francs 

 per charette, it follows that this article of traffic 

 produces yearly at Strasburg 300,000 francs, 

 or just about 4 francs for each inhabitant." 



The high prices paid for this manure by the 

 Continental farmers betrays the estimation in 

 which they hold it. "The contractor at Brus- 

 sels, M. Champon," says Dr. Granville, "sells 

 his manure for 13s. 4rf. per ton 400 florins, or 

 33/. 6fL for a barge-load of 50 tons. M. Smet, 

 the greatest trafficker, perhaps, in this material 

 in East Flanders, gets for some of his 10s., and 

 for the best and larger portion of it 15s. per 

 ton ; while the contractor at Antwerp disposes 

 of all he has of Flemish manure at 52 ilorins 

 the pii', or 624 florins the barge-load, equal to 

 52/., or II. 10s. 9d. per ton. But if we look to 

 what takes place every day at Montfaucon, 

 near Paris, where 200 cart-loads of the con- 

 tents of the cesspools are daily deposited, to be 

 converted into pnmlrette, we find the latter (a 

 dry and compound manure made from night- 

 soil) to fetch a much higher price than all the 

 rest. 



"But by far the most important point of 

 practical knowledge in this matter, put forward 

 by the same great authorities, and the truth of 

 which was afterwards confirmed to me by 

 more than one great farmer in East Flanders, 

 is, that while the manuring with human soil 

 lias produced 14 times the quantity sown, 

 where horse-dung has only yielded 10, the pro- 

 portion of the human or Flemish manure em- 

 ployed was, to that of the horse-dung, as 1 to 5 

 only; so that with 1 ton of the Flemish a 

 larger produce is obtained than with 5 tons of 

 stable manure." See MANURES APPLICABLE BY 

 THE DmtT.. 



In Sweden the value of night-soil has been 

 long well understood by the farmers. Nearly 

 half a century since the Baron de Schulze, 

 when writing to Sir John Sinclair, observed, 

 "They have now ceased to spoil the fine har- 

 bour of Stockholm with nuisances of every 

 kind. The contents of the privies are now 

 collected, by undertakers, in barrels, of which 

 they are obliged to have a double quantity to 

 replace those deposited in the reservoirs, from 

 whence they are carried to the country. My 

 eldest son, who has changed the sword'for the ' 

 ploughshare, has particularly attended to this 

 manure, being favourably situated on the Lake 

 Malar, 48 English miles from the capital ; he 

 conveys it in a covered boat, each loading of 



which is sufficient to dress about 3 acres of 

 spring corn, and between 4 and 5 of winter 

 corn and meadow ground. This manure, by 

 the motion of the boat, becomes more liquid ; 

 and it is conveyed from the hold of the vessel 

 by a bucket at the end of a lever, through a 

 spout into a close cart on shore drawn by two 

 oxen. These carts are provided with a mova- 

 ble funnel, and with a 'strainer so regulated, 

 by means of a pole, that the manure can be ad- 

 ministered at pleasure by the driver, without 

 further attention to spreading. That the land 

 may not be overdunged, and the crop conse- 

 que'ntly lodged, care must be taken not to lay 

 above 40 such cart-loads on the Swedish acre 

 for spring corn; each cart containing ISO gal- 

 lons English, or 1920 Ibs. Except that other 

 powerful manure produced by the refuse of the 

 herring oil-works, none can come into compe- 

 tition, for richness, with the contents of the 

 privy mixed with urine. The effects of this 

 manure, no doubt, diminish gradually; yet its 

 operation may be plainly perceived in the 

 fourth successive crop. When clover is meant 

 to be sown with the spring corn, this species 

 of manure is unsuitable; for although the seed 

 be diminished to one-third, the straw becomes 

 so thick and strong as to choke the clover. A 

 mixture of lime is sometimes recommended for 

 this manure, in order to dry it and correct the 

 smell; but, besides that lime is not plentiful 

 here, the process would be found to require a 

 considerable time and expense. A little addi- 

 tion to the wages of the labourers or cottagers 

 soon reconciles them to the inconvenience of 

 the smell, and it becomes still less offensive to 

 them if they are allowed to use part of it on 

 their own little fields. If any particular impe- 

 diment occurs, such as harvest work, this ma- 

 nure is then from the vessel conveyed to great 

 pits, to be, after a mixture with other sub- 

 stances, driven to the field at a more conve- 

 nient season." (Com. Board of dgr. vol. i. p. 

 326.) The prejudice which some English la- 

 bourers entertain against the employment of 

 night-soil is readily overcome by a little ma- 

 nagement. The stream which flows through 

 the village of Eastbourn, in Sussex, had be- 

 come, a few months since, much contaminated 

 through the night-soil which had been deposit- 

 ed in it from the adjoining cottages, and it was 

 in vain that their owners were advised to use 

 it for their gardens ; until an excellent lady of 

 the place, who is ever ready to promote the 

 comfort of her poorer neighbours, desired her 

 bailiff to go round and propose to purchase it 

 of them. His offer was, however, rejected, uni- 

 versally rejected; and ever since they have 

 no longer suffered the contents of their privies 

 to be wasted, but have carefully applied them, 

 and with the best results, to their own gardens ; 

 remarking, that if it was worth a farmer's 

 while to buy it of them, it must be worth more 

 to them for their gardens. 



"By this term, night-soil," remarked the in- 

 defatigable Arthur Young, " at London, is to be 

 understood the collections there made of what 

 a French marquis calls ' 1'espece de fumier que 

 la politesse empeche de nommer;' from which 

 trait of him one would not have expected he 

 should know so much of the value of it as ha 



843 



