4ai ELEMENTS OF 



caping to unite with the acid in the shape of sal-am- 

 moniac. 



When dunor is to be preserved for any time, the situ- 

 ation in which it is kept is of importance. It should, if 

 possible, be defended from the sun. To preserve it 

 under sheds would be of great use. or to make the site 

 of a dung-hill on the north side of a wall. The floor on 

 which the dung is heaped, should, if possible, be paved 

 with flat stones ; and there should be a little inclination 

 from each side towards the centre, in which there should 

 be drains, connected with a small well, furnished with 

 ,a pump, by which any fluid matter may be collected 

 for the use of the land. It too often happens, that a 

 heavy, thick, extractive fluid is suffered to drain away 

 from the dung-hill, so as to be entirely lost to the farm. 



Night-soil, it is well known, is a very powerful ma- 

 nure, and very liable to decompose. Human excrements 

 diflfer in their composition, but always abound in nitro- 

 gen, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. From the analysis 

 of Berzelius, it appears that a part of it is always soluble 

 in water; and in whatever state it is used, whether re- 

 cent or decomposed, it supplies abundant food to plants. 

 But this aflfords no excuse for its misapplication in any 

 other condition than that which 13 most profitable. It 

 varies, no doubt, in richness with the food of the inhabit-, 

 ants of each district — chiefly with the quantity of animal 

 food they consume ; but when dry, no other solid ma- 

 nure, weight for weight, can probably be compared with 

 it in general eflicacy. The soluble and saline matters 

 it contains are made up from the constituents of the food 

 we eat; of course, it contains most of those elementary 

 substances which are necessary to the growth of the 

 plants on which we live. The disagreeable smell of 

 night-soil may be destroyed by quick-lime. If exposed 

 to the air in thin layers strewed over with lime, in fine 

 weather, it speedily drie.s, is easily pulverized, and, in 

 this slate, may be used in the same manner as rape- 

 cake, and delivered into the furrow with the seed. If 

 night-soil be treated in a proper manner, so as to remove 



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