70 A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



much reduced, that nig-ht-soil forms the principal dependence 

 of the farmer. It is extensively employed in a dried state, and 

 is sold, as an article of commerce, throughout the empire, in 

 the fbrm-of cakes, mixed up with one-tiiird of their weight of 

 marl. It is, however, in its liquid state, as urine, that it is 

 chiefly used, in combination with other substances, tiie account 

 of which, as furnished by a gentleman who' was long resident 

 in tlie country, is too curious to be omitted. 



Into a cask or jar is put a collection of putrid animal sub- 

 stances, consisting of flesh, fish, blood, &.C., to which is added 

 a certain quantity of urine, but tlie vessel is not completely 

 filled. A mandarin, or officer of government, then attends, 

 who, upon the vessel being closed, affixes his seal, and in which 

 state it must remain for six months at least. When tliis, or a 

 longer period, has elapsed, the mandarin removes his seal, and 

 grants a certificate as to the quality of the preparation, wJiich 

 is shown by the proprietor, who cries it through tlie streets as 

 a manure for gardens, and it is sold in quantities as small as 

 an English pint. Before using, it is always diluted with four 

 or five times its bulk of water, and it is extensively used for 

 garden-crops, but universally in drills. The writer adds that 

 he was informed by several intelligent Chinese, that human 

 urine, thus prepared, forms a fourth part of all the manure 

 employed in China, and wiiich is never used until it lias 

 reached a high state of putridity. 



That an article considered of so much importance in that 

 country should in this, where agriculture has arrived at such 

 great perfection, be so much neglected, is not easy to be 

 accounted for. The quantity of urine voided daily by an indi- 

 vidual of moderate size lias been shown, by a series of experi- 

 ments, to amount to about half a gallon, which, if due atten- 

 tion was paid to the collection of it, would, according to the 

 Flemisli mode of its application, be a siilhcient manure for 

 half a rood of ground. Urine, when sufficiently diluted with 

 water, forms a food highly conducive to the growth of plants; 

 it is, indeed, thought to contain the essential elements of 

 vegetables in a state of solution ; but its stale of putrefaction 

 requires great attention. Tims, it may be observed that, in the 

 hot months of summer, the pasture where the urine of catth 

 falls becomes marked by a rich dark green when rain falls soof 

 after ; but if the dry weather continues, the developement of 

 the ammoniacal salts, arising from the putrefaction of the 

 urine, tlien occasions it to burn up the grass ; yet, on tlie con- 



