114 THE BOOK OF THE LANDED ESTATE. 



still further, and is then sent throughout the country under the name of 

 poudrette. It is said to be a very powerful manure in this state. 



In China it is extensively used as a manure. It is mixed with clay 

 and made into cakes, which are allowed to dry in the air, and are then 

 sold under the name of taffo. 



The fertilising nature of sewerage is shown in the case of the meadows 

 in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and there is no doubt but that it is 

 the nightsoil which gives the sewerage this character. The waste in 

 this manure is enormous when we consider the amount which is con- 

 veyed away from water-closets into streams and rivers, where, instead 

 of its being a benefit to mankind, it becomes a source of disease and 

 general unhealthiness. The amount of capital spent each year in this 

 country alone in guanoes is something wonderful, and yet in this sub- 

 stance we have a manure which has a greater amount of fertilising ingre- 

 dients than guano, but which we allow in a great measure to go to waste. 



A very good plan for the profitable working of nightsoil has been 

 patented by the Eev. Henry Moule, Fordington Vicarage, Devon, and 

 manufactured by the Messrs White & Co., 29 Bedford Street, Strand, 

 W.C., London. It consists in applying dry earth to closets or commodes. 

 It is thus described : 



At the back of the usual seat and above it is placed a box or reservoir for the pur- 

 pose of containing the dry earth. In the lower part of this is placed the machinery 

 for measuring and delivering the quantity of earth for each time of using. Under the 

 seat is a pan, and below the pan is placed a movable pail ; by^lifting a handle, earth 

 falls into the pail and covers the deposit, completely preventing all smell. The pail, 

 as often as may be necessary, must be emptied, and the contents may be applied at 

 once to the garden, or may be mixed either in the machine afterwards described or by 

 spade, the process in either case giving no oifence, and the earth when dry being 

 again fit for use. 



These earth-commodes cost 1 each, but with a case complete, 3. 



SECTION 4. Road-Scrapings, Cleanings of Ditches, Mud from Ponds. 



The cleanings from roads and ditches, when collected together, make 

 a good manure when they are formed into heaps and mixed with lime ; 

 but it is necessary to mix a large proportion of lime with it, as there is 

 usually a large number of weeds collected both with the road-scrapings 

 and from ditches and the seeds of weeds will also form a part of the 

 mixture. The lime will act beneficially in destroying and decomposing 

 both seeds and weeds. 



The cleanings of both roads and ditches are very often thrown into 

 ridges on both sides of the road and about the roots of hedges. In 



