1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



17 



re;i! value of this feculent nmtler is duly apprecia- 

 ted, and its preparation well understood, the aver- 

 sion whicii Its use excites is surniounied, and it is 

 there preiLMxed to all other manure. It has indeed 

 beenassunied that the cxcrenionls of a man, when 

 useil /or this purpose, can be made to produce a 

 sutiiL-iency of corn and rools fur his support; hut, 

 althouirh that assertion has been exaii'irerated, 

 yet were all tiio nourishment whitdi could be ex- 

 tracted from this species of ordure made availal)l<% 

 there can be but little reason lodoabt thai, it would 

 add lartrely to the production of the lauil; for it 

 has been proved by numerous expcrim;3nts, to 

 rank liir bel")re the dunj^ of any animal. In this 

 country, however, it is very commonly allowed to 

 become decomposed throu^'h want oi" care, and 

 vast quantities are carriad olf by rivers from the 

 laroje towns, and lost in the bosom oi' the ocean — 

 an inattention which has partly arisen from the 

 dis2;ust occasioned by i:s odor, and partly through 

 a jirejudice to which that disgust has given rise. 



This repuo-nance [;roceeds ii'om an idea that this 

 m iimre communicates an unpdeasant flavor to 

 planis grown in the land upon which it has been 

 usf;d; and it hi'.s been a!so thought to have a bad 

 ctRTt upon ihc soil. Both of these objections are 

 however groundless when due care is applied to 

 its management. Instances are indeed said to 

 have occurrci], in which horses have refused the 

 hay made from grass winch had been manuretl 

 with night-soil; but, if credit is to be attached to 

 the assertion, it must bave been produced by its 

 having been spread in a !i-esh state, and upon 

 grass of very lbr>vard growth. In proof of this, 

 is an instance, mentioned in the Noriblk Report, 

 of a field newly laid down to grass, every part ol 

 which proved very poor, except two acres on 

 which four waijon loads of night-soil were spread 

 directly, without being mixed with any other ma- 

 nure. The field was''fed olf, and the effect of the 

 night-soil is said to have been so great, tiiar, 

 'while tlie rest of the fi^'ld never seemt'd more 

 than half filled whh useful plants, this part ihick- 

 eued surprisingly, and grew most luxuriantly; so 

 much so, iluu. the cattle, neixlecting the rest of the 

 fit'ld, wevi perpetually feeding there, until by an- 

 tinnn it was pared down, like a fine green lawn by 

 llie side of a dusky, rough, ragged pasture.* In 

 other accounts it is indeed reported as 'the most 



Two nearly siinilar experiaifnts have be^n also re- 

 corded by tha lliv. James Willis, President of If.e 

 Clu'ist Cliurch Agricultural Society, in which the su- 

 I)r'riority of produce arising from the different sorts of 

 dun^ was in tlie follovvhig ordir: — 1st. That fioui 

 pigs; 2n;!. sh.?ep; .j;\l. horscs; 4th. cows. In another, 

 however, that fVoin s'.ieep was first, and pigs second; 

 and Sir Hmnplircy Davy gives the preference to that 

 of hard-fed horses, then of sheep and deer, and l:.«ily 

 oxen. Treaty on soils and Man.: Anon. p. 123 — 131 



* P. 172. Tne same Survey also mentions the great 

 improvemsnt of a piece of steril pasture by the ap- 

 plication of ni^ht-soil mixed up with pond-iand, in the 

 proportion of 7 wagon-loads of the former to 143 one- 

 horse cart-loads of the latter. The soil was first hud 

 upontiis mad, the men then cut a trench through tlie 

 heap, and throwing a small parcel into it. they worked 

 it all to pilot's. The compost was afterv.-ards spread 

 over the fi»ld at the total expense of £12; but at the 

 present price of labor it would probably amount to half 

 as much more. 



Vol. IV— 3 



capital manure, of all other .sorts, fcir pasture, two 

 wagon-loads securing a carpet of herbage;"* and 

 no find etiect is perceptible on vegetables, though 

 kitchen-gardeners use it with proiusion. It has 

 been also asserted that nice judfrcs of vegetables 

 can dislinyuish a very unfavorable difference be- 

 tween the flavor of those grown in the viciinty of 

 large towns or in the open coimlry, and this they 

 attribute partly to the use of nijxht-soil; but it cer- 

 taiidv commiujica'es no unpleasant smell to the 

 piiuiis, nor e en, after a very i'ew days, to the 

 ground on wdiich it h.as been laid, for it is soon de- 

 coniposed, and the effect complained of is doubt- 

 less more owing to the raj-idiiy of the growth 

 when forced by an excess of any slimulatino; nm- 

 imre, which renders them insipid; and were mar- 

 ket-gardeners more sp(arin<)' o!' the use of all dung, 

 or were they to correct it into a compost by a ju- 

 dicious mixture of lime and eardi, or a small por- 

 tion of slaked lime, the evil complained of would, 

 no doubt, be removedj. 



All unpleasantness of odor may indeed be pre- 

 vented by the mere use of asiies; and were those 

 throwti upon the night-soil, or into privies which 

 have no communication with sewers, the ashea 

 made in every dvv^ellinghouse ^vould so completely 

 absorb the fliud, that a solid heap of manure 

 would be produced, that miglt be afterwards re- 

 moved without difRculty or Oilensiveness. This, 

 besides being common in many parts of the con- 

 tinent, is the regular practice tbroughout Hulhj 

 and were it more generally followed in other 

 towns, there can be no doubt that it would be at- 

 tende(l with very beneficial effects to the agricul- 

 ture of their neighborhood. It is also collected in 

 <;onsiderabie quantities in London; and there was, 

 a few years ago, a large manufactory for its pre- 

 paration, in which it was dried and exposed to the 



* Survey of Essex, vol. ii. p. 2-11. 0ns wagon-load, 

 containing 90 bushels of night-soil, cost in London 15s., 

 to which is to be added the cliarge of carriage to the 

 farms, to Avhich it is mostly conveyed by the Thames, 

 or by canals. Much of it is used in Essex, mixed with 

 live times t';c quantity of fresli earth and sometimes 

 together with an equal quantity of the mu.ck and 

 chalk, in wl>ich proportions it is commonly used, at the 

 rate of one wagon-load of night-snil; and the whole 

 charge, including that of spreading, is calculated to be 

 from £2 1.3s. to £3 3s. per acre. The common price 

 of stable-dung in London is 23 to 23. Cd. per hay-cart 

 load, containing between 70 and 80 cubical left: t'jatof 

 street-slop, caifed cold manure, is delivered by bavges 

 to th.e distance of about fifteen miles, by the canals, or 

 within reach of one tide by the river, at about 3s. per 

 ton. Middlesex Report, 2d. edit. p. 375. 



t Russell's Treatise on Practical and Chemical Ag- 

 riculture, p. 205. Derbysh Rep. vol. ii. p. 451. It is 

 also contradicted by Count Gyllenborg, in his very 

 erudite treatise on Chemical Agriculture, in which he 

 mentions an instance of his having regulaily watered 

 a vine witli putrid urine, but neither the grajits nor the 

 wine contracted any bad taste. Pilkington's Trans- 

 lation, p. 79. Slaked-lime is, for this puipose, prefer- 

 able to that which is hot; for the fatter, when com- 

 bined with animal matter, forms a luamu'e which is 

 •lot soluble in water. 



X See a letter on the subject, detailing the practice, 

 together widi remarks on its extension, in the Farmer's 

 Magazine, vol. x, p 497. Also the General Report of 

 Scodand, vol. ii. p. 525; and Communications to the 

 J3oard of Agriculture, vol. i. p. 317. 



