14 Mli. NICHOLS' ADDKE.SS. 



cropped, which gypseous dressings Avill not benefit. The lime the 

 soil oric-inally contained at the 'surface, has been carried oflf in the 

 bones and excrement of the animals feeding so long upon the 

 o-rasses of the same. Our soils, being formed in a great measure 

 from the prevailing quartose granite, abound in silica ; but hme is 

 an ingredient more sparsely disseminated through them than is 

 beneficial for many important crops. Hence, we may regard plas- 

 ter as a most important and economical fertilizer for a majority of 

 the farmers of Essex. 



Chemistry teaches us how rich in plant nutriment is the 

 liquid excrement of animals. It teaches that a farmer may as 

 well let hordes of hungry vermin into his granary to run away with 

 his corn and wheat, as to let th:; liquid manures of his barns and 

 stables run to waste. A pound of the liquid excrement of a cow 

 will form in the field as much in weight of the stalks and leaves of 

 plants as three pounds of the solid. A cow will produce about 

 seventeen thousand pounds of solid, and about seven thousand of 

 the liquid, in a year; hence it will be seen that the aggregate vklue 

 of the liquid is equal, to say the least, to the other. Now what 

 farmer would rest easy a single hour if he was aware that the solid 

 manure of his animals was being wasted ? And yet, gentlemen, 

 how many of you have made provision to save that which is as 

 easily saved, and which is worth as much? Let me describe to you 

 a method of preserving liquid manures, which occurred to me while 

 on the prairie lands of the west the past spring. It has the merit 

 of cheapness and efiectiveness, and may be generally adopted. I 

 observed connected with the rough cheap dwellings upon the 

 prairies a cistern for holding rain water, made by simply scooping 

 out the earth to the depth of perhaps eight or ten feet, and then 

 plastering it over one inch in thickness with a mortar made with 

 hydraulic cement and coarse sand, equal parts. This was allowed 

 to harden, and then covered with plank below the limit of frost. — 

 Thus for five dollars a cistern of twenty hogsheads capacity may 

 be made, which, if carefully constructed, will continue intact for 

 many years. Let each farmer prepare such a cistern as this con- 

 tiguous to his barn, and let him incline the flooring of his cattle 

 stalls, and attach conductors, so that during the winter, all liquid 

 excrement may flow into the same. Let him purchase a carboy of 



