AND RUKAL ECONOMIST. 183 



of the food of plants. Its component parts, oxygen and 

 hydiogen, under certain circumstances, are seized by vegeta- 

 bles while in their growing state, and converted into the pro- 

 ducts which form the constituents of all vegetables. But 

 pure water forms a meagre diet for plants. It may support 

 life in vegetables, and some plants will maintain a feeble 

 growth with very little nourishment except what is afforded 

 them by pure water and air. But when water is impregnat- 

 ed with certain salts and gases, particularly such as are 

 evolved during the fermentation and decomposition of vege- 

 table and animal substances, it becomes what is called liquid 

 manure. Urine, or the stale of all animals, is water holding 

 in solution certain salts and other substances, which are 

 the essence of manure^ or the food of plants in a concentrated 

 state. 



Fresh urine is a very powerful and efficacious manure^ 

 when properly applied, but if not mixed with solid matter it 

 should be diluted with water, as when pure it contains too 

 large a quantity of animal matter to form a proper fluid 

 nourishment for absorption by the roots of plants. Urine is 

 lessened in value, but its useful qualities are not entirely 

 Jost, by putrescence. During putrefaction the greatest part 

 f. '' the soluble animal matter that urine contains is destroy- 

 ed ; it should therefore be used as fresh as possible, with the 

 precaution of diluting it with water, or mixing it with earth. 

 Putrid urine, however, is a valuable manure. It abounds in 

 ammoniacal salts ; and though less active than fresh urine, 

 is very efficacious. =^ 



According to some writers and practical farmers, the 

 value of the urine of cattle, if properly preserved and applied 

 to the purposes of vegetation, is greater than that of all the 

 dung which the same animals would yield ! A letter from 

 Charles Alexander, near Peebles, in Scotland, addressed to 

 Sir John Sinclair, in 1812, for publication, contains much 

 valuable information on this subject. ' This intelligent far- 

 mer had long been impressed with the great importance of 

 the urine of cattle as a manure, and he set about to discover, 

 by a long and well-conducted series of experiments, the best 

 method of collecting and applying it. He began by digging 

 a pit contiguous to the feeding-stall, but distinct altogether 

 from that which was appropriated for the reception of the 

 dung. The dimensions of this pit, according to his own ac- 



* See Davy's Agricultural Chemistry. 



