102 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION 



the carbon and oxygen of the food are consumed in 

 the lungs and blood generally, for the purpose of keep- 

 ing up the heat of the body. They are given off from 

 the lungs, and also by perspiration and evaporation 

 through the pores of the skin, in the forms of CEirbonic 

 acid and water. 



From animals fed upon rich food, the manure is much 

 more powerful than when it is poor. In England, for 

 instance, where they fatten cattle largely on oil-cake, 

 it is calculated that the increased value of the manure 

 repays all of the outlay. This is the reason why hu- 

 man ordure is better than manure from any of the 

 animals mentioned above, the food of man being rich 

 and various. 



All these kinds of manure should be carefully col- 

 lected and preserved, both as to their liquid and solid 

 parts. The liquid part or urine is particularly rich in 

 the phosphates and in nitrogen. This part is by very 

 many farmers permitted in a great degree to run away 

 or evaporate. Some farmyards are contrived so as to 

 throw the water off entirely, others convey it through 

 a small ditch upon the nearest field. The liquid ma- 

 nure which might have fertilized several acres in the 

 course of the season, is thus concentrated upon one 

 small spot, and the consequence is a vegetation so 

 rank as to be of very little use. Spots of this kind 

 may be seen in the neighborhood of many farm-yards, 

 where the grass grows up so heavy that it falls down 

 and rots at the bottom, and has to be cut some weeks 

 before haying time, producing strong coarse hay that 

 cattle will scarcely touch. 



The proper way to save this liquid is to have a tank 

 or hole, into which all the drainings of the yard may 

 be conducted. If left here long, this liquid begins to 

 ferment, and to lose nitrogen in the form of ammo- 

 nia, which it will be remembered is a compound of 

 nitrogen and hydrogen. To remedy this, a little sul- 



