NIGER. Black. Niffresccnt, grow- 

 ing black. \,;,rr,rans, blackish, sooty 

 NIGHTSHADES. Thcgr-nus.SV 

 ter/Km. They are mostly perennial or 

 shrubby, of the family Solanacca, the 

 iruit and leaves being often poison- 

 ous, especially in the S. mgrum and 

 dulcamara, or bittersweet. They are 

 common weeds in moist, cultivated 

 grounds. The deadly nightshade is 

 the Atropa belladonna. The potato, 

 egg fruit, and tomato are of this menus' 

 NIGHT SOIL. The contents of 

 privies. It IS a verv valuable manure 

 /or all crops. In ihe fresh state it is 

 applied at the rate of six to twelve 

 cart loads the acre ; but this is an 

 unpleasant and wasteful application 

 Jt may be dried, and rendered ino- 

 dorous by union with charcoal, char- 

 red peat or broken peat, coal ashes 

 or hne mould, and drying by expo 

 sure to the air. This forms one kind 

 of poudrette. It is best treated with 

 charcoal powder, gvpsum, or very 

 small quantities of green vitriol the 

 sulphuric acid of which fixes the vol- 

 atile ammonia. Quicklime and un- 

 leached ashes are objectionable addi- 

 tions, as they liberate the ammonia 

 and cause loss. The most econom- 

 ical method, so far as the soil of the 

 aV^ concerned, is to keep pound- 

 ed charcoal and a little gypsum in the 

 cess pool, so as to have it ready for 

 use as soon as removed. Drym<^ 

 night soil in tlie air, without any ad"^ 

 dition, is wasteful ; for fen 



NIG 



I The salts had the following com- 

 position : 



('arl)onate of soda . . oo < 



Chlundo of sodium . iXX 



Siilphate of soda ... j , ^ 



Ammoniuco-magnesian phosphate ; [ '. U-l 

 Phosphate of lime ....... 235 



JOiFb 



Human urine is one of the most 

 powerful of all manures. Left to it- 

 self, u speedily undergoes putrefac- 

 tion, and evolves an abundance ofam- 

 moniacal salts. Its composition is : 



Urea , 



Uric acid ...■;■■ o?0 



Indeterminate animal matter )' 



Lactic add, and lactate of ammonia • .^ "1 



Mucus of the bladder . . />./>, 



Sulphate of potash ... ' ' ' ' n.97 



Sulphate of soda ... • • • • " 0/ 



Phosphate of soda ....'■■■■ n-QQ 



Chloride of sodium ' ' q.VL 



Phosphate of ammonia ..'.'' oi7 



Chlorohydrate of ammonia ..'''" n-IS 



Phosphate oflime and of magnesia .' .' 010 



Waler . . . . 



Flemish method of using night soil 

 see Flanders Husbandry. 



Night soil is a mixture of urine and 

 faces, and, as such, must vary in 

 composition, and has never been ex- 

 amined. The faices and urine sep- 

 arately were analyzed by Berzelius, 

 who found the composition of the 

 faces to be as follows : 



Remains of food . - n 



Bile .■;:■■■■ 0-q 



Albumen ..'.'.' ii-l 



A peculiar extractive matter ! .' ' " ' g-T 

 Indeterminate animal matter, viscous niat- 



Salf' '''^*"'' ^'"^ ■''" '"^"'"'''^ residuum . ]40 



^''^'' ■'.::-■ 73I 



traces 

 3330 



lOUOO 



The phosphates of lime and ma<r- 

 nesia which it contains are extreme- 

 ly insoluble salts, and have been sup- 

 posed to be held in solution by phos- 

 phoric acid, lactic acid, and very re- 

 cently, by Professor Liebig, by hip- 

 puric acid, which he now states to 

 be a regular constituent of healthy 

 human urine. 



From the interesting inquiries 

 upon urine made by M. Lecanu, it 

 appears that a man passes nearly 



e 



, , •"• itTiinentation I u„ir.,„ „ ^ '- — -- ■— "•■ 



comes on rapidly, and great loss of "^'' '^" ^""ce of azote with his urin 

 ammoniacal matters arises For the i" . course of 24 hours. A quan 

 ^' • tity of urine taken from a public urine 



pail of Pans yielded 7 per 1000 of 

 azote. The dry extract of the same 

 urine yielded nearly 17 per cent. 



It is difficult to give an estimate 

 of the comparative value of nio-ht 

 soil, for the urine present is nearly 

 altogether the valuable part, and the 

 amount varies. It is, however, more 

 active (hotter) and valuable than the 

 best horse dung, being estimated at 

 14, and horse dung at 10. A Young 

 increased his crop of wheat, on a 

 poor gravel, from 12 to 31 bushels 

 by 160 bushels, upward of six bush- 



«^ls more than he obtained by 60 cu- 



1000 1 bic yards of farm-yard manure. Ac- 



518 



\ 



