18 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 1 



sun by spreadino- it upon flacc-stones gently in- i load of night soil, about four or five times the 

 dined, to allow ''it to drain, after which it was j same quantity o^f earth should be added, aci-ording 

 broken into pieces, and removed under cover, *- "- - .p.i-- --i ^ , i ._ .1 1 , 



where it was partially mixed with lime and com- 

 pletely reduced to powder. In this state it was 

 packed into barrels, and exported even to our col- 

 onies, where it was used as a toj)-drcssing, but was 

 chiefly employed by market-gardeners, who used to 

 sow it in drills idong with their seeds,and, judging by 

 the price at which they bought it, there can be no 

 doubt thalthey found its use to be singularly advan- 

 tageous; but the process has been abandoned, lor, 

 having been carried on in the heart ol" the to^vn, 

 it occasioned complaints of its ottensiveness. This, 

 from the inconvenience attending its conveyance, 

 unless by canals, has greatly prevented its use: 

 considerable difficulty has also been found in re- 

 conciling (arm-servants to working at the prepa- 

 ration of this manure; hut that objection can be 

 easily overcome by a slight gratuity, and, consid- 

 ing its great value as a dressing, it ought not to 

 be° neglected. It is said that one load, in its dry 

 state, will be, in all cases, quite suiHcient tor three 

 acres of drilled wheiit.* 



Its operation has been found quicker and more 

 powerful than farm-yard dunii:; but not so lasting. 

 Farmers who have" used both on adjoining land 

 have observed that the crops are always more ex- 

 uberant in the first year where the night-soil has 

 been laid, but that little or no dilierence has been 

 alterwards perceptible. t lis eflccts, when spread 

 alone upon field-crops, and directly ploughed in 

 with a sliallow furrow, are indeed so violent, that 

 grain manured with it has been known to run en- 

 tirely to straw; yet it has been used in that state 

 as a dressing tor turnips, and also fbrspring wheat, 

 upon the falTow, upon thin and chalky soils, upon 

 which the largest crop and the finest grain was 

 grown upon a very extensive iiu'in, upon which it 

 was Jaid to the extent of three wagon loads per 

 acres?, though it prohabiy was partly mixed up 

 with the sweepings of streets.^ It should how- 

 ever be incorporated with oiher substances; and 

 as it is very difficult to procure it in any other than 

 a nearly liquid state, it is proper that every means 

 should be taken to secure it. A mixen should 

 therelbre be made consisting of fresh loam, decay- 

 ed tanners' bark, peat or any oilier like substance, 

 to the depth of about two Jijet, to which the night- 

 Boil must be drawn, and then carefully thrown 

 over it with scoop-s to a moderate thickness: afer 

 which another layer should be added of loam, or a 

 compost of the same substances, and in the same 

 manner, thougli not quite so deep as heliire; then 

 another of night-soil, until the whole has attained 

 the pro])er height, when it is to be covered wilh the 

 same materials, to which if" a small quantity ol' 

 quicklime be joined, or mix(Hi with the layers, it 

 will assist the dccomjjosilion of the heap, and its 

 nauseous eOluvia will be destroyed. To every 



* Tlio following; lias boen recommended as the best 

 mode of pulverizing ni-;ht-soil: — 'Spread it on a piece 

 of grass; let it be well harrowed on a bright day; then 

 put it under cover, and add a chuldron of lime to 4 

 loads of muck in tliat state, and it will become dry.' 

 Rigby's Fiamingham, p. 102. 



t Appendix to the General Report of Scotland, vol. 

 ii.p. 82. 



X Malcolm's Survey of Surrey and the Neigliborin.T; 

 Counties, vol. ii. p. 28. 



to the nature of the soil, and to the degree of ex- 

 citement intended to be applied to the land. It 

 should then be regularly turned and throughly 

 mixed, and may be used either for wheat or bar- 

 ley in tlie proportion of one wagon-load of niuht- 

 soil, containing as mucli as lour horses can fiiirly 

 draw, to the acre; but it should be used more in 

 the manner of a top-dressing than buried in the 

 soil. It has been laid on in the large proportion of 

 40 double cart-loads, and it has alterwards been 

 known to produce 5^ quarters per acre of spring- 

 wheat; besides an uncommonly luxuriant crop of 

 rye-grass and cover in the ensuing summer.t It 

 is sometimes, also, mixed with tlie yard-dung for 

 the purpose of exciting fermentation: this, how- 

 ever, is not advisable, lor it produces its great ef- 

 fect in an unlermented state, and when thus mix- 

 ed, its power is greatly lessened. 



It is likewse converted into powder for the pur- 

 pose of maiuirein Paris, and is also used through- 

 out many parts of the Continent, butchiefly in the 

 Netherlands, where, however, it is more common- 

 ly employed exclusively in a liquid state; of the 

 preparation of which we extract the following ac- 

 count fi-om the intelligent Report by Mr. Radcliff 

 of the Agiiculture of Eastern and Western 

 Flanders. J 



Liquid manure. 



'This consists of the urine of cattle, in whicli 

 rape-cake hi'.s been dissolved, and in vvhicli 

 the night-soil fi'om the privies of the adjoining 

 tovvUis and villages has also been blended. This 

 IS gradually collected "in subterraneous vaults of 

 brick-work, at the verge of the liu'in next to tlie 

 main road. Those receptacles are generally" 40 

 feet long by 14 wide, and 7 or 8 fi^et deep, and in 

 some cases are contrived with the crown of the 

 arch so much below the surface of the ground, as 

 to admit the plough to work over it. An aper- 

 ture is left in the side, through which the manure 

 is received from the cart by means of a shoot or 

 trough; and at one end an opening is left to bring 

 it up again by means of a temporary pump, which 

 delivers it into carts or barrels. Another cistern, 

 of double that size, is however for the most part 

 formed under the range of stables, fi-om each stall 

 of which the urine is conducted to a common gra- 

 ting, through which it descends into the vault, 

 fi'om vv-hence it is taken up by the pump; but in 

 the best regulated, there is a partition in the cis- 

 tern, with a valve to admit the contents of the 

 first space into the second, to be preserved there 

 free ftom the later acquisition, age adding consid- 

 erably to its oiFicacv. The smallest of (hem will 

 hold 1000 barrels of 38 gallons each, and in that 

 quantity fi'om two to lour thousand rape-cakes, of 

 2!bs. each, will have been dissolved. 



'This species of manure is indeed relied on be- 



t Farmers 's Magazine, vol. xiv. 161. It will not 

 escape observation that the amount of this manure 

 would have been better stated if tlie quantity had been 

 accurately, ascertained in bushels; but that is a trou- 

 ble which few farmers take, and information can only 

 be given in the same manner in which it is obtain- 

 ed. 



X Chap. iv. sect. ii. and cliap. v. sect. iii. 



