(JO A rilACTICAL TREATISE 



CHAPTER III. 



PUTRESCENT MANURES CONTINUED. — NIGHT-SOIL — LIQUID 

 MANURE. 



Night-soil is not alone distinguished from the ocjure of all 

 animals by the extreme fetidness of its smell, but is also known 

 to be of a stronger or hotter kind, and probably differs in its 

 own qualities in proportion to the sort of provision from which 

 it is obtained, as there is every reason to suppose that the ex- 

 crement arising out of animal food is of a more active nature 

 than that which is the produce of a vegetable diet. In all 

 those places where the real value of this feculent matter is 

 duly appreciated, and its preparation well understood, the 

 aversion which its use excites is surmounted, and it is there 

 preferred to all other manure. It has indeed been assumed 

 that the excrements of a man, when used for this purpose, can 

 be made to produce a sufficiency of corn and roots for his sup- 

 port; but, although that assertion has been exaggerated, yet 

 were all the nourishment which could be extracted from this 

 species of ordure made available, there can be but little reason 

 to doubt that it would add largely to the production of the 

 land ; for it has been proved, by numerous experiments, to 

 rank far before the dung of any animal. In this country, 

 however, it is very commonly allowed to become decomposed 

 through want of care, and vast quantities are carried off by 

 rivers from the large towns, and lost in the bosom of the 

 ocean — an inattention which has partly arisen from the disgust 

 occasioned by its odour, and partly through a prejudice to 

 which that disgust has given rise. 



This repugnance proceeds from an idea that this manure 

 communicates an unpleasant flavour to plants grown in the 

 land upon which it has been used ; and it has been also thought 

 to have a bad effect upon the soil. Both of these objections 

 are however groundless when due care is applied to its ma- 

 nagement. Instances are indeed said to have occurred, in 

 which horses have refused the hay made from grass which 

 had been manured with night-soil; but, if credit is to be 

 attached to the assertion, it must have been produced by its 

 having been spread in a fresh state, and upon grass of very 

 forward growth. In proof of this is an instance, mentioned in 



