THE GENESEE FARMER. 



171 



THE VALUE OF POUDRETTE. 



A correspondent of the American Agricultur- 

 t says : "It has heeu estimated that a single in- 

 vidual produces 500 lbs of urine per annum, 

 hich Prof. Johnston shows is worth $50 per ton. 

 village of 1,000 inhabitants would consequently 

 ■oduce 250 tons in a year, which would be worth, 

 this rate, more than $10,000. The population 

 New York and Brooklyn would furnish annual- 

 for country farms $10,000,000 worth of this fer- 

 jaing material, if it could be saved for that pur- 

 >se." 



Of all the wild estimates we have seen of the 

 blue of nightsoil, this is the wildest. It has been 

 certained by actual experiments, that on an aver- 

 ;e males from 15 to 50 years of age void in the 

 urse of a year, feces, 95 lbs. ; liquid, 1,049 lbs. 

 >tal, liquid and solid excrement in their fresh 

 ate, 1,144 lbs. These contain: 

 Of dry substance — faeces, 23f lbs. ; urine, 39£ lbs. 

 )tal, 63£ lbs. 



Of mineral matter — feces, 2-J lbs. ; urine, 12 lbs. 

 )tal, 14£ lbs. 



Of carbon— feces, 10 lbs.; urine, 12 lbs. Total, 

 lbs. 



Of nitrogen — feces, 11-5 lbs.'; urine, 10 4-5 lbs. 

 )tal, 12 lbs. »• 



Of phosphates — feces, 1^ lbs. ; urine, 4£ lbs. To- 

 1, 5£- lbs. 



In other words, fresh urine contains 96 per cent, 

 water. One ton contains only 80 lbs. of solid 

 sitter. What is this 80 lbs. worth? We ail 

 low what the 1,920 lbs. of water is worth. The 

 'o together, according to the above estimate, is 

 ortli $50. Now, if the water is worth nothing, 

 follows that the 80 lbs of dry matter in a ton of 

 ine must be worth $50, or over 60 cents per lb. ! 

 there not some error here ? Has not the writer 

 r the Agriculturist misunderstood Prof. Johns- 

 »n ? Did not Prof. J. mean that the dry matter 

 urine was worth, if you could get it, $50 per 

 n ? He certainly could not mean that the fresh 

 •ine was worth $50 per ton. 

 Let us see what a ton of fresh urine contains, 

 id then we can tell to a certainty what it is 

 orth — or at least we can tell what the ingredi- 

 its which it contains can be purchased for in 

 her forms. 



One ton of fresh urine contains about 20 lbs. of 

 trogen, worth 17 cents per lb., or $3.40 ; 10 lbs. 

 phosphates, worth 6 cents per lb., or $0.60 ; 25 

 s. of mineral matter, worth, on a liberal esti- 

 ate, 50 cents ; 25 lbs, carbonaceous matter, worth 



very little indeed, say 50 cents; and 1,920 lbs. of 

 water, worth nothing. So, then, one ton of fresh 

 urine, instead of being worth $50, is worth only 

 $5, and this is a very liberal estimate. 



IRRIGATING MEADOWS. 



There are few subjects which merit the atten- 

 tion of American farmers more than that of irri- 

 gation. In many parts of New England, and in 

 the grazing and dairy districts of this State and 

 Pennsylvania, there are thousands of acres of land 

 that might be irrigated in the simplest, easiest and 

 most economical manner possible. We have often 

 been surprised to see small streams of water run- 

 ning to waste while the parched and poverty 

 stricken meadows in the neighborhood, which 

 might easily have been irrigated by this water, 

 produced not more than a ton of hay per acre, and 

 often much less. 



In irrigating, as in underdraining, it is frequently 

 necessary for a few neighbors to combine in the 

 work. And this is not always an easy matter to 

 accomplish. In fact, this is one of the greatest 

 difficulties in the way of any plan for the intro- 

 duction of irrigation. We have no remedy to pro- 

 pose which will overcome this hindrance. All 

 that we can do is to call attention to the great ad- 

 vantages which irrigation would afford in some 

 sections, and endeavor to show that such combina- 

 tions as we have alluded to would be mutually 

 beneficial. 



That irrigation is a great means of increasing 

 the produce of grass lands, will not be disputed. 

 In England we have known many instances where 

 at least three times the amount of hay has been 

 obtained simply by irrigation, with ordinary water, 

 from a small stream that was dammed up and the 

 water conducted in furrows and allowed to flow 

 over the land. 



In the last number of the " Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England," it is stated that 

 the spring feed alone on the irrigated meadows on 

 the Avon is sometimes let for $40 or $50 per acre, 

 and even $60. 



Levi Bartlett, in describing the farm of Mr. 

 Sanborn, of New Hampshire, in a recent number 

 of the Albany Cultivator, says Mr. S. commenced 

 irrigating his "old mowing fields" about twelve 

 years ago. At that time many of them yielded 

 very scanty crops of grass, not over ten or fifteen 

 cwt. per acre. Now, by the application of water 

 alone, these fields yield two tons of first-rate qual- 



