ON MANURES. 73 



turned over, when it shows symptoms of complete saturation ; 

 and in this way a large quantity of rich manure is raised, equal 

 to about 280 cart-loads, 40 of which, per Scotch acre, when 

 applied to the ground, he finds equal, if not superior, in its 

 effects to his best dung. The expense of filling the pit only 

 amounts to 6^. 



Throughout a great part of the rich low-lands in Tuscany, 

 the manure is chiefly procured from night-soil, and preserved 

 in large cisterns, in wliich it is steeped for several months in 

 about three times its quantity of water; though some farmers 

 content themselves with a large ditch, which is applied to the 

 same purpose as the cistern. Into this every kind of putres- 

 cent matter is also thrown, and the putrid water thus pro- 

 duced is found to possess qualities of a very fertilizing nature. 

 It is however principally used for garden-ground, which is 

 thus watered every fortnight ; and the plants, but more par- 

 ticularly onions, thus acquire a prodigious size, without being 

 in the least affected by any bad flavour arising from the ma- 

 nure. Neither is its smell, though most offensive for a day or 

 two after it has been laid upon the land, ever known to 

 occasion any prejudicial effect to the health of the peasantry. 



In a paper addressed to the Board of Agriculture by Baron 

 Schulen burgh, one of its honorary members, he states that in 

 Sweden the urine is collected from the farm-offices, and 

 pumped over dung and other substances while in a state of 

 compost. The contents of the privies are likewise regularly 

 collected by scavengers in all the great towns, and carried, in 

 many instances, to the distance of forty miles from Stockholm. 

 It is then diluted with water, and laid chiefly upon meadow-land ; 

 but it is also applied to green crops, and the effects on the soil, 

 though gradually diminishing, are generally considered to last 

 during four years. 



In Switzerland, also, the mistwasser, or manure-water, is 

 sprinkled over the surface of the meadows by means of large 

 casks and perforated water-troughs, immediately after each 

 cutting of the scythe, which makes the grass to spring up 

 again with great vigour in a very short time ; and it is well 

 known that water, rendered fetid by the solution of vegetable 

 or animal substances, is essentially serviceable to ffrass-land, 

 as may be commonly perceived by its effects when thrown 

 upon the fields in the neighbourhood of stagnant ponds, in 

 which flax has been steeped. It is indeed highly probable 

 that manures which are intended to act immediately upon the 

 7 



