116 THE BOOK OF THE LANDED ESTATE. 



liquid manure. One winter, while farming in Inverness-shire, I kept a 

 herd of forty-six cattle tied up in houses. Fodder being scarce at the 

 time, I determined upon feeding the stock with straw, by chopping it 

 and steaming it in large boilers. We did not use any straw for manure, 

 but had quantities of sawdust carted from the neighbouring saw-mills 

 and spread under the cattle. I did this at the time without thinking of 

 any benefit I might receive from the collection of the liquid manure, 

 but purely with the view of economy in straw as bedding. The sawdust 

 absorbed all the liquid, and it was applied as a topdressing to young 

 clover. Part of the clover-field was not topdressed, and the difference 

 was very apparent. In the neighbourhood of large towns it is sometimes 

 the practice for market-gardeners and nurserymen to place large tanks, 

 with spouts attached to them, to catch the urine of the workmen in the 

 large manufacturing firms. The urine of the cow is also very valuable, 

 for if we take 100 Ib. of it, we find the following : 



lb. 



Water, 65 



Phosphate of lime, 5 



Urea, 5 



Ammonia, 4 



Muriate of potash, 12 



Sal-ammonia, . 4 



Carbonate of potash, 5 



100 



It is known that the fluid excrement from a cow in one year is a good 

 manuring for an acre and a half per annum, and that the solid excrement 

 for the same time will only manure one acre ; it is therefore of the 

 highest importance that farmers should take all care to preserve the 

 liquid manure of the farm. 



The great question of the day is, " How is the sewerage of towns to be 

 conveyed into the country for the application of land?" There is no 

 doubt but that it is a great and fertilising agent when applied to soils 

 suitable for its reception ; we have the instance of this in the meadows 

 near Edinburgh, where land which was once worth comparatively little 

 is now worth from 30 to 35 per acre annually. In the mean time 

 it is only available to land in the immediate neighbourhood of towns ; 

 but a great extent of the light waste lands and along the coast might be 

 made very valuable by the application of sewerage. There is a great 

 value in town sewerage it is worth a large sum of money per annum 

 and the only difficulty is in its application to the soil ; and ere long 

 every particle of this manure will be valued and utilised. Manure we 

 must have to increase our crops, for it is well known in these days 



