50 



Poudrette as a Manure on Wheat and Rye. Vol. VIII. 



erful of the organic manures, and the most 

 easily rendered applicable by the drill of 

 any of the class. 



" Various modes besides those to which I 

 have alluded, have, at different times, been 

 suggested, by which night-soil might be 

 rendered more concentrated and more port- 

 able. Simply drying it has been attempted 

 with some success; but though by this means 

 about 70 per cent, of water is driven off, yet, 

 at the same time, a considerable portion of 

 ammoniacal and other gaseous matters are 

 vaporized: thus the manure is impoverished, 

 while the stench of the operation is intole- 

 rable. Then, again, it has been mixed with 

 lime, in the way recommended by Davy; 

 but judging by my own experiments, and 

 those of my neighbours, I am fully persuaded 

 that this is not the most economical way of 

 using night-soil. The lime certainly dis- 

 solves, and partially decomposes it, but the 

 fertilizing effect of a given weight of night- 

 soil mixed with lime, is clearly not so great 

 as when a similar weight of it is used either 

 by itself, or mixed with some merely drying 

 odour-absorbing substance. There are seve- 

 ral preparations of this kind made in large 

 quantities in London, such as those of Mr. 

 Clarke, and of Mr. Lance, the author of the 

 Golden Farmer, all of which, I believe, 

 are excellent manures; but I have not had 

 an opportunity of examining any of their 

 manufactures, except those of the London 

 Manure Company, and of the Messrs. Poit- 

 tevin. The preparation of these gentlemen, 

 is the same as that so successfully carried 

 into effect by M. Payen, at Paris : it com- 

 bines, and successfully too, the great object 

 of driving off the water of urine and night- 

 soil by a gentle heat, after all its gaseous 

 matters have been absorbed, by mixing with 

 it a portion of newly prepared carbon, in the 

 finest possible state of division, than which 

 no known substance has such great powers 

 of absorption of all gaseous matters, like 

 those which abound in and impart the disa- 

 greeable odour to night-soil. These purify- 

 ing powers of charcoal, have been long 

 known : the medical man applies it in pu- 

 trescent cases, the housewife rubs it pow- 

 dered over her tainted meat, and the sailor 

 chars the inside of his water-casks for a 

 similar purpose. The presence of the car- 

 bon in the manure thus prepared, is valuable 

 in two ways; gradually it combines with 

 the oxygen of the atmosphere, forming, in 

 the state of carbonic acid gas, the food of 

 plants ; and, at the same time, all the gase- 

 ous matters of putrefaction with which it is 

 saturated, are thus preserved, stored up, as 

 it were, for the service of the roots of the 

 cultivator's crops; nothing is lost, the emis- 



sion of the gases from the slowly dissolving 

 charcoal, being so gradual as to be almost, 

 if not entirely, imperceptible to the senses." 

 From this, and other recent valuable pub- 

 lications for the practical farmer, it will be 

 found that poudrette,' or manure prepared 

 from the contents of sinks, has been long 

 used in Europe with great success; and that 

 it is considered one of the most valuable 

 fertilizers in use there. Whereas, in this 

 country, it is only just beginning to be ap- 

 preciated. It is safe, however, to predict 

 that ten years, and even less, will effect an 

 entire revolution in this matter, amongst 

 our farmers — who are not slow to understand 

 their own interest; especially when they see 

 others obtaining better crops with less labour 

 and at less expense, by the use of concen- 

 trated manures: — and the farmers of Penn- 

 sylvania, may now obtain poudrette of the 

 very best quality, prepared in Philadelphia, 

 and thus save the expense of transportation 

 from New York, as heretofore. 



Respectfully yours, D. K. Minor. 



Philadelphia, Sfpt. 1st, 1843. 



The Westborough milk company have had 

 the enterprise to try a wholesome experi- 

 ment of sending milk on the rail-road, thirty 

 miles to Boston, with entire success. The 

 transmission of butter, which is also a part 

 of their system, has been tried by others, 

 and was attended with no risk. The milk 

 thus transmitted in cans of any size desired, 

 in a car of eight wheels, with scarcely any 

 shaking, may be kept perfectly sweet. Of 

 course it can be sold in that state at a good 

 profit, for a less price than it is possible to 

 sell milk produced near Boston. This is 

 only one of the hundreds of experiments 

 yet to be tried by our farmers and others 

 near the rail-road. This company send 

 around their milk by carts, to all parts of 

 the city. They have a depot also for the 

 sale of milk and butter in any quantity, in 

 Boylston street, where any direction may be 

 given or orders left. They commenced the 

 first of April, by selling 28 gallons a day. 

 They now sell over 400 gallons a day. — Ex- 

 change paper. 



Horses should never stand long on a dry 

 plank floor. Their fore feet, particularly, 

 hould rest on something more pliable. Some 

 who object to loam and to tan bark, keep a 

 trough of water and require the horse to 

 stand in it for hours. By travelling fast on 

 hard roads, a fever is created in the fore 

 feet, and road horses are ten times more 

 subject to it than farm horses. When a 

 Fiorse has travelled all day on a hard road, it 

 is cruel to make him stand all night on a 

 hard floor. — Mass. Ploughman. 



