44 



■will feed his stock all Winter on straw and turnips, and consider himself much better 

 off and wiser than the other who feeds on oil cake and hay. The manure of the latter 

 will be one half more valuable than the former and a consequent difference will be 

 perceived in the growth of crops upon which it is placed. Therefore it is that human 

 ordure is more valuable than any other manure, as man lives on a variety of food, 

 all containing in the greatest degree fertilizing ingredients. Why is it then that the citizens 

 of New York permit such a valuable and enriching substance to be thrown off the docks? 

 How could the sui'jilus revenue of the city be better employed than by establishing a depot 

 for its collection, where by the most simple process it could be converted into a portable and 

 most valuable manure? Soap boilers' waste, coal ashes, ammoniacal liquor from the gas houses, 

 butchers' offal, charcoal dealers' dust, and street dirt might all be preserved, and produce, instead 

 of cost, after the first year, an enormous income to the city. The reason so little has been 

 said on this subject is that absurd and ridiculous prejudices are entertained by many, who 

 imagine a disagreeable taste is imparted to the vegetables grown under its influence. 

 Recently France, Belgium, and other nations, have passed strict laws prohibiting, its waste 

 under pain of imprisonment. Eastern nations have used it from time immemorial ; the 

 excrement from cattle being used by them as fuel, consequently this fertilizer became indispen- 

 sable. In China it is dried and sold to the farmers at high prices throughout that immense 

 empire, and has for ages been there considered as the most valuable of all manures. England 

 and the United States may be considered the only two nations totally behind the age in that 

 respect. In England all the filth of the large towns and cities is led off by the shortest 

 possible route to the rivers, if there happen to be any passing through them. In London, 

 particularly, sewers are constructed to lead it into the Thames. In all our cities and 

 towns the example of the mother country is being followed. I have in several instances 

 tried this manure, in comparison with others, and have invariably found that it increased the 

 crop three-fold. Arthur Young placed six loads of night soil upon an acre of potatoes, and 

 the yield was six hundred and fifty bushels ; he manured another with one hundred and twenty 

 cart loads of horse manure, and the yield was four hundred and eighty bushels. It behoves 

 this Society, existing for the express purpose of improving agriculture, to move in this 

 business, and use our strenuous exertions to persuade the authorities of our city to set 

 apart a piece of unoccupied ground on the outskirts of the town, and direct that all refuse 

 matter to be carried there, which, thoroughly incorporated with the substances before named, 



