72 IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL BY 



that is fit for his use. These may be either cut into 

 pieces upon a block, with an axe, so as to be readily 

 buried with the plough, or broken in the bone-mill. We 

 have used fifteen wagon-loads of piths in a season with 

 great advantage. 



The best way of applying the bone-dust and horn-sha- 

 vings and horn-piths, that we have tried, is to keep them 

 dry till a short time before they are wanted — then to mix 

 them, in the proportion of a bushel to a load, with un- 

 fermented yard or stable dung, to cart to the field, spread 

 broadcast, and immediately cover the whole with the 

 plough. The action of the dung brings on a decompo- 

 sition of the animal matter, without previous preparation, 

 and its benefits are imparted to the coming crop. We 

 estimate fifteen loads of manure, thus charged with bone 

 or horn, equal to twenty-five loads without it. 



3. Poudrette is the contents of privies, dried, and ren- 

 dered as inodorous and inoftensive, by chemical process, 

 as the common earths. This is another species of con- 

 centrated manure nearly as powerful as bone-dust ; more 

 operative upon a first crop, but less durable in its effects. 

 It is the most efiicient, in its immediate effects, of any 

 manure we have tried. It is applied at the rate of 40 

 bushels or less to the acre, upon all arable crops, to be 

 sown broadcast, superficially covered, or placed in the 

 hill or drill of hoed crops. It has long been used about 

 Paris, has become an article of commerce, and is trans- 

 ported to every part of the interior. Manufactories of 

 poudrette have been established in the vicinity of New 

 York, and the demand for the article increases with the 

 supply. Like manufactories w^ill, no doubt, ere long be 

 established near all our large cities ; and thus, what would 

 be otherwise a nuisance, and the indirect cause of disease 

 and death, will be converted into vegetable food, and be- 

 come a source of comfort and of wealth. Let not the 

 sensitive start at this suggestion — the choicest delicacies 

 of the table come from a nauseous mass of animal and 

 vegetable putrefaction ! 



4. Urette is animal urine, absorbed and rendered dry 

 by mixture with calcareous earth. It possesses the like 



