ON EXPERUIENTS ON MAAUHF.S. 91 



Mix the ashes and peat well together, sprinkling with 

 water to moisten it a little. Let the heap lie for a 

 week. 



Dissolve the salt in a hogshead of water, and add to 

 the brine the mixture of peat and a.shes, stirring it well 

 for another week, and it will be fit for use." To make 

 the counterfeit more complete, we should think about 

 twenty-five or thirty pounds of sulphate of soda should 

 be added. This can be obtained at the Salem Labora- 

 tory for half a cent per pound, or less. We should re- 

 commend to future experimenters on manures, to study 

 Dana's Muck Manual. Let the worth of his scientific 

 teaching be tested by experiments. 



As to poudrette, Mr. How's experiment corresponds 

 with Mr. Putnam's opinion, and with what we have heard 

 of its failure to produce a good crop of corn when used 

 more extensively in other parts of the county. This 

 article has been so puffed by the manufacturers a la 

 7node\\\e venders of patent medicines, that i'armers were 

 exceedingly liable to be induced to purchase it, at a price 

 far beyond its value. 



Dana says, poudrette is night soil partly dried in pans, 

 and mixed up with variable quantities of ground peat 

 and plaster. Its value will depend on the circumstance 

 whether its Ammonia be saved or lost in the manufac- 

 ture. Well manufactured, every 100 pounds of it is 

 worth 200 pounds of the best human excrement, or 600 

 pounds of cow dung. The quantity necessary to ma- 

 nure well, land containing plenty of vegetable mould, or 

 geine, or necessary to convert a cord of muck into com- 

 post worth as much as barn manure, may be readily 

 calculated. While on this subject, we cannot forbear 

 to mention and lament, that so much of this most valua- 

 ble manure should be worse than wasted, — permitted 

 to vitiate the air and well water, and consequently the 

 comfort and health of our cities, towns, and villages. 

 A remedy for all these evils, cheap, and yet of incalcu- 

 lable value, is obvious. It needs only a systematic and 

 concerted management between the producers and the 

 should-be-consumers of this manure. Let all vaults be 



