OF MANURE. 



65 



The ammonia emitted from stables and 

 necessaries is always in combination with 

 carbonic acid. Carbonate of ammonia and 

 sulphate of lime (gypsum) cannot be brought 

 together at common temperatures, without 

 mutual decomposition. The ammonia enters 

 into combination with the sulphuric acid, 

 and the carbonic acid with the lime, form- 

 ing compounds which are not volatile, and 

 consequently destitute of all smell. Now, 

 if we strew the floors of our stables, from 

 lime to time, with common gypsum, they 

 vill lose all their offensive smell, and none 

 jf the ammonia which forms can be lost, 

 uut will be retained in a condition service- 

 able as manure. 



With the exception of urea, uric acid 

 contains more nitrogen than any other sub- 

 stance generated by the living organism; it 

 is soluble in water, and can be thus absorbed 

 by the roots of plants, and its nitrogen as- 

 similated in the form of ammonia, and of 

 the oxalate, hydrocyanate, or carborfate of 

 ammonia. 



It would be extremely interesting to study 

 the transformations which uric acid suffers 

 in a living plant. For the purpose of experi- 

 ment, the plant should be made to grow in 

 charcoal powder previously heated to red- 

 ness, and then mixed with pure uric acid. 

 The examination of the juice of the plant, 

 or of the component parts of the seed or 

 fruit, would be a means of easily detecting 

 the differences. 



NIGHT-SOIL. 



IN respect to the quantity of nitrogen con- 

 tained in excrements, 100 parts of the urine 

 of a healthy man are equal to 1300 parts of 

 the fresh dung of a horse, according to the 

 analyses of Macaire and Marcet, and to 600 

 parts of those of a cow. Hence it is evident 

 that it would be of much importance to 

 agriculture if none of the human urine were 

 lost. The powerful effects of urine as a 

 manure are well known in Flanders,* but 

 they are considered invaluable by the Chi- 

 nese, who are the oldest agricultural people 

 we know. Indeed so much value is attached 

 to the influence of human excrements by 

 these people, that laws of the state forbid 

 that any of them should be thrown away, 

 and reservoirs are placed in every house, in 

 which they are collected with the greatest 

 care. No other kind of manure is used for 

 their corn-fields.f 



* See the article " On the Agriculture of the 

 Netherlands," Journ. Royal Agri. Soc., vol. ii. 

 part 1, page 43, for much interesting information 

 on this subject. 



t Davis, in his History of China, states that 

 every subs'ance convertible into manure is dili- 

 gently husbanded. " The cakes that remain after 

 the expression of their vegetable oils, horns and 

 hoofs reduced to powder, together with soot and 

 ashes, and the ^contents of common sewers, are 

 much used. The plaster of old kitchens, which 

 in China have no chimneys but an opening at the 

 top, is much valued ; so that they will sometimes 

 put a new plaster on a kitchen for the sake of the 

 9 



China is the birth-place of the ex peri- 

 mental art; the incessant striving after ex- 

 periments has conducted the Chinese a thou 

 sand years since to discoveries, which have 

 been the envy and admiration of Europeans 

 for centuries, especially in regard to dying 

 and painting, and to the manufactures of 

 porcelain, silk, and colours for painters. 

 These we were long unable to imitate, and 

 yet they were discovered by them without 

 the assistance of scientific principles ; for in 

 the books of the Chinese we find recipes 

 and directions for use, but never explana 

 tions of processes. 



old." The ammonia contained in the fuel forma 

 nitrate of lime with the lime in the mortar. " All 

 sorts of hair are used as a manure, and barbers' 

 shavings are carefully appropriated to that pur- 

 pose. The annual produce must be considerable 

 in a country where some hundred millions of 

 heads are kept constantly shaved. Dung of all 

 animals, but more especially night-soil, is esteemed 

 above all others. Being sometimes formed into 

 cakes, it is dried in the sun, and in this state be- 

 comes an object of sale to farmers, who dilute it 

 previous to use. They construct large cisterns 

 or pits, lined with lime plaster, as well as earthen 

 tubs, sunk into the ground, with straw over them 

 to prevent evaporation, in which all kinds of vege- 

 tables and animal refuse are collected. ThesQ 

 being diluted with a sufficient quantity of liquid, 

 are left to undergo the putrefactive fermentation, 

 and then applied to the land. In the case of every 

 thing except rice, the Chinese seem to manure the 

 plant itself rather than the soil, supplying it co- 

 piously with their liquid preparation." 



" The Chinese husbandman," observes Sir G. 

 Staunton, (Embassy, vol. ii.,) " always steeps the 

 seeds he intends to sow in liquid manure, until 

 they swell, and germination begins to appear, 

 which experience has taught him will have the 

 effect of hastening the growth of plants, as well 

 as of defending them against the insects hidden 

 in the ground in which the seeds are sown. To 

 the roots of plants and fruit-trees, the Chinese 

 farmer applies liquid manure likewise." 



Lastly, we extract the following from a com- 

 munication to Professor Webster, of Harvard 

 College, United States :-" Human urine is, if 

 possible, more husbanded by the Chinese than 

 night-soil for manure ; every farm, or patch of 

 land for cultivation, has a tank, where all sub- 

 stances convertible into manure are carefully de- 

 posited, the whole made liquid by adding urine 

 in the proportion required, and invariably applied 

 in that state." This is exactly the process fol- 

 lowed in the Netherlands. See Outlines ofFlem 

 ish Husbandry, page 22. 



"The business of collecting urine and night- 

 soil employs an immense number of persons, who 

 deposit tubs in every house in the cities for the 

 reception of the urine of the inmates, which ^es- 

 sels are removed daily, with as much care as our 

 farmers remove their honey from the hives." 



When we consider the immense value of night- 

 soil as a manure, it is quite astounding that so 

 little attention is paid to preserve it. The quantity 

 is immense which is carried down by the drains 

 in London to the River Thames, serving no other- 

 purpose than to pollute its waters. It has been 

 shown, by a very simple calculation, that the 

 value of the manure thus lost amounts annually 

 to several millions of pounds sterling. A sub-' 

 stance, which by its putrefaction generates mias- 

 mata, may, by artificial means, be rendered totally 

 inoffensive, inodorous, and transportable, and yet 

 prejudice prevents these means being resorted to*' 

 ED. 



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