ON MANURES. 65 



that one load in its dry state, will be, in all cases, quite suf- 

 ficient for three acres of drilled wheat.* 



Its operation has been found quicker and more powerful 

 than farm-yard dung ; but not so lasting. Farmers who have 

 used both on adjoining land have observed that the crops are 

 always more exuberant in the first year where the night-soil 

 has been laid, but that little or no difference has been after- 

 wards perceptible, (a) Its effects, when spread alone upon 

 field-crops, and directly ploughed in with a shallow furrow, 

 are indeed so violent, that grain manured with it has been 

 known to run entirely to straw; yet it has been used in that 

 state as a dressing for turnips, and also for spring-wheat, 

 upon the fallow, upon thin and chalky soils, upon which the 

 largest crop and the finest grain was grown upon a very ex- 

 tensive farm, upon which it was laid to the extent of three 

 wagon-loads per acre, though it probably was partly mixed 

 up with the sweepings of streets. It should, however, be in- 

 corporated with other substances ; and as it is very difficult to 

 procure it in any other than a nearly liquid state, it is proper 

 that every means should be taken to secure it. A mixen 

 should therefore be made, consisting of firesh loam, decayed 

 tanners' bark, peat, or any other like substance, to the depth of 

 about two feet, to which the night-soil must be drawn, and then 

 carefully thrown over it with scoops to a moderate thickness; 

 after which another layer should be added of loam, or a com- 

 post of the same substances, and in the same manner, though 

 not quite so deep as before ; then another of night-soil, until 

 the whole has attained the proper height, when it is to be 

 covered with the same materials, to which if a small quantity 

 of quicklime be joined, or mixed with the layers, it will assist 

 the decomposition of the heap, and its nauseous effluvia will 

 be destroyed. To every load of night-soil, about four or five 

 times the same quantity of earth should be added, according 

 to the nature of the soil, and to the degree of excitement in- 

 tended to be applied to the land. It should then be regularly 

 turned and thoroughly mixed, and may be used either for 



*The following has been recommended as the best mode of pulverizing 

 night soil : — ' Spread it on a piece of grass ; let it be well harrowed on a 

 bright day ; then put it under cover, and add a chaldron of lime to 4 loads 

 of muck in that state, and it will become dry.' — Rigby's Framingham, p. 102. 



(a) [Poudrette, prepared from night-soil, is fast superseding the latter, from 

 its portability. It is applied at the rate of about ten bushels to the acre. On 

 Indian corji it has been used with great effect.] 



