VOL. XVI. XO. 36. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



203 



(Selected for the New England Farmer.) 



LIQUID ^iANUKE. 



Urine, altlioii^li esseiiliully caiiipo.^ed of watcM', 

 t contains iniicli of tlie elements of vcgetatinii 

 a state of soliitinn pectiiliar to itself,aii(J is cmri- 

 leil, tlirou(;li the S(;i-retio.'is of vessols, wiili car- 

 II and saline matter, from wliicli its (ierives its 

 tritive properties, as well as witli a large por- 

 in of ammonia, to wliicli it owes the peculiar 

 lell liy wliich it is distinirnislifd. The varions 

 ecies of nrine from difrerent animals, differ in 

 >ir constituents, and the urine of the same ani- 

 ds alters when any material change is made in 

 ! nature of the food. 



The analysis by Mr Brande, of 100 parts of the 

 iiie of cows, and hy Fourcroy, of horses, — the 

 lowing proportions are found in each, viz: 



Human urine contains a greater variety of con- 

 ueiits than any other species, and differs in 

 nparison, accordmg to the state of the body. 

 Liquid manure consists of the urine of cattle, 

 ich is gradually collected on subterraneous vaults 

 brick-work, near the stable or hay pen. Those 

 eptacles are generally 40 feet long by 14 wide, 



7 or 8 feet deep : an apertui'* is left in the 

 ;, through which the manure (night soil, from 

 ,'ies) is received from the cart by means of a 

 ot or trough ; and at one end an opening is 



to bring it up again, by means of a temporary 

 n[i, which delivers it into carts or barrels.— 

 jther cistern of double that size, is however, 



the most part forjned under the range of sia- 

 B, from each stall of which the urine is conduc- 



to a common grating, through which it de- 

 [ids into the vault ; but in the best regulated, 

 re is a partition in the cistern, with a valve to 

 ait the contents of the fu'st space into the sec- 

 1, to be preserved there tVee frojn the later ac- 

 sition, age adding considerably to its efficacy. 

 is species of manure is indeed relied on be- 



d any other, upon all the light soils throughout 

 nders ; even upon strong lands, originally so 

 I as to preclude the necessity of manure, it is 

 If coming into great esteem, being considered 



licable to most crops, and to all varieties of 

 s. The earth immediately imbibes the liquid, 

 ich soon reaches the roots of the plants, and 

 ses a rapid vegetation. 



iixperiments on an extensive scale have incon- 

 ibly proved the efficacy of liquid manure upon 

 [ly or other light soils, to which they impart 

 sistency, and dispose them to retain moisture ; 



can there be much doubt, that ii: many cases 



products of a single crop may be thus more 

 1 doubled, by its immediate contact with the 

 Its. There is, probably, no part of the world 



irhich the preparation and practical application 



egetable and animal n)anure is so well under- 

 (d as in -China ; but, owing to its overflowing 

 iulation, almost the whole of the labor is per- 

 iled by man, by which the number of working 



anifuals is so much reduced, that night-soil and 

 urine forms the principal dependence of the far- 

 mer. Into a cask or jar, is put a collection of pu- 

 trid animal substances, night-soil, fish, blood, fee, 

 to which is added a certain ipiantity of nrine, l)ut 

 the vessel is not completely filled. A mandarin, 

 or officer of government then attends, who, upon 

 the vessel being closed, affixes his seal, and in 

 which state it must remain for 6 months at least. 

 When this, or a longer period, has elapsed, the 

 mandarin removes his seal, and grants a certifi- 

 c.Uc as to the q iilily of the preparation, which is 

 shown by the proprietor, who cries it tltrough the 

 streets as a tnaniu'e for gardens, and it is sold in 

 quantities as small :is an English pint. Before 

 using, it is always diluted with Co\ii- or five times 

 its bulk of water. 



The writer adds that he was informed by sev- 

 eral Chinese, that human urine, thus pri'par;?d, 

 forms a f)iirth-part of all the 'nanure employed in 

 China, anr! which is never used until it has reach- 

 ed a high state of putridity. That an article con- 

 sidered of so much imiiortance in that country, 

 should in ihts, be so much neglected, is not easy 

 to he accounted fop. The quanti'y of nrine voi- 

 ded daily by an individual of moderate size, has 

 been shoivn, hy a siu-ies of eXjjeriments, to amount 

 to about half a ga'Ion, which, if due attention was 

 paid to the collection of it, would, according to 

 the Flemish mode of its application, be a suffi- 

 cient manure for a 1-4 of an acre of ground. Urine 

 when sufficiently diluted with water, forms a food 

 highly conducive to the growth of plants ; it is in- 

 deed thought by Sir II. Davy, to contain the essen- 

 tial elem-nts of vegetables in a state of solution. — 

 This, it may be oliservcd, that, in hot months of 

 summer, the pasture where the urine of cattle falls, 

 becomes marked by a rich dark green, when rain 

 falls soon after ; but if the dry weather continues, 

 the development of aminoniacal salts, arising from 

 the putrefaction of the urine, then occasions it to 

 burn up the grass; yet, on the contrary, an excess 

 of moistun; deprives it entirely of effect. Thus, 

 the whole of the nrine of a dwelling-house having 

 been daily thrown on :i piece of pastm-e, during 

 three m nths of winter, it was found in the fol- 

 lowing summer to differ but little from the slate 

 of t'.ie rest of the field, — it having suffered too 

 much dilution from the rain and snow, to be ca- 

 pable of putrefaction. But in the following June, 

 a week's nrine being put in ajar,and covered svith 

 a slati!, where it remained until it had completely 

 nndergofie that stage, was then mixed with four 

 limes its amount of water, and, when sprinkled at 

 pro^jer times on the same quantity of pasture, it 

 soon occasioned a luxuriant vegetation. There 

 is probably no species of manure so generally neg- 

 lecteil, and yet so deserving of attention ; for, al- 

 though the largest portion of what is produced in 

 farm-yards, is there necessarily absorbed by the 

 litter, and consequently profitably applied, yet 

 lar.er quantities are constantly allowed to run to 

 waste. We have no means of ascertainin.- the 

 amount of urine that may be voided by diflerent 

 animals in the course of a day, for the diversity 

 of their size, and of the kind of food on which 

 they are supported, would deprive sucLi n calcu- 

 lation, upon a broad scale, of any pretension to 

 accuracy. Ii has, however, been supposed that, 

 if fell upon common white turni|)S, they would 

 yield about two-thirils of the weight — or about a 

 gallon for every 12 lbs. — besides the water which 

 they drink. The weight of pure distilled water, 



is 8 lbs. per gallon ; that of urine is heavier, in 

 proportion to its composition. 



Considering the trouble of using the urine,with 

 a water cart, perhaps some; may prefer [ireparing 

 it in the manner recommended by a f^irmer in 

 Peebles shire, who appjies it in the following man- 

 ner, lie has a |iit, about 12 yards square, and 4 

 feet deep, which he fills with rich earth, or any 

 such matters that may hi at hand, and the urine 

 of tfie cattle which he feeds, is conveyed to the 

 pit by a sewer, and s iread equally over it. After 

 this compost has received tlie greatest portion of 

 m-ine, which is about the latter end of April, when 

 it is ready for the spring sowing, it is carefully 

 turned over, when it shows .symiitoms of (complete 

 saturation ; and in this way a large quantity of 

 rich manure is raised, equal to about 280 cart- 

 loads, which when applied to the ground, he finds 

 equal, if not superior in its effycts to his best dung. 

 The ex[)ense of filling the pit only amounts to 

 about .$25. 



Throughout a great part of Tuscany, the man- 

 ure is chiefly procured from night soil, and pre- 

 served in large cisterns, in which it is steeped for 

 several months in about three time* its quantity 

 of water: into this every kind of putrescent mat- 

 ter is also thrown, and the putrirl water thus pro- 

 duced is found to possess qualities of very fertiliz- 

 ing nature. 



In a paper ailtlressed to the Board of Agricul- 

 ture by Baron Schulenburgii, he states that in 

 Sweden the urine is collected from the farm offi- 

 ces, and pumpe.-l into vats containing composts. 

 The contents of the privies are likewise regularly 

 collected by scavengers in all the great towns, and 

 carried, in many instances, to the distance of 

 forti/ miles from Stockholm. It is then diluted 

 with water, and the effects on the soil are gener- 

 ally considered to last four years. 



Ill Switzerland, also, the manure water, is 

 sprinkled over the surface of grass Jand by means 

 of water casks, immediately after each cutting of 

 the scythe, which makes the grass spring up again 

 with great vigor in a very short time. 



In Scotland, some extensive experiments have 

 been made upon the application of liquid manure 

 — containing urine; wliich have proved highly 

 favorable. A cistern is cons'.ructed under the 

 stable, sufficiently large to contain the urine of 

 from thirty-five to forty, and sometimes seventy 

 cows. The supply generally amounted to 360 

 gallons a week, and when used was mixed with 

 three or four times the same quantity of water, 

 and was taken out to the field in a large butt con- 

 taining 120 gallons, placed on wheels like a cart, 

 to the hinder part of which there was attached a 

 wooden box perforated with holes, through which 

 the liquid ran out upon the grass ground in the 

 manner of a common watering-cart, such as are 

 used in our cities. 



It appears that this species of liquid manure 

 applies best to grass ; a doctrine whicdi is corrob- 

 orated by experience of Mr Haley, the proprietor 

 of the celebrated dairy near Glascow, who says, 

 "that the advantages ot irrigating grass-lands with 

 cows' urine almost exceed belief; last season some 

 small fields were cut six times, averaging fifteen 

 inches in length, at each cutting, and the sward 

 very thick." 



Nothing shows a good fanner better than his 

 attention to the comfort of his family. 



