VOL. XVir. Rfi>. 49. 



AND HORTICULTURxVL REGISTER. 



387 



either in secretions, snch as milk, urine, &c., or in 

 excretions from tlie bowels. Beyond, therefore, 

 what is expended in adding to the weight of the 

 animal fed, tho manure, cither in a solid or liquid 

 form, sliould be equal to the quality of food sup- 

 plied. Tlie solid manure or dung is the refuse of 

 the food taken in by the animal after it has under- 

 gone the digestive process in the stomach, its nu- 

 tritive particles being extracted, and taken into the 

 animal system to supply the waste constantly going 

 on, as well as to add to the weight or size of the 

 animal. The urine again is the refu-se of matter 

 which has been absolute particles of the animal, 

 and siay, therefore be strictly considered animal 

 matter; it contains within itself a far greater pro- 

 portion of the fertilizing qualities that constitute 

 the essential principle of manure, than what is con- 

 tained in the same quantity of excrementitious mat- 

 ter or dung ; but the fertilizing properties of uriiii> 

 are very trifling in the green or fresh state to what 

 they are in the same liquid when it has undergone 

 a thorough fermentation, and been thereby reduced 

 to a high state of putridity. Whilst undergoing 

 this process, it may be made available as a men- 

 struum to convert vegetable or aniinal matter into 

 the richest manure. The quantity of urine made 

 by a moderate sized honied beast, when full grown, 

 in the course of '24 hours, will be found something 

 about 3'2 pounds, as has been before observed ; but 

 generally speaking the quantity if the beast be 

 well fed with good food, will be much greater ; 

 even, liowever, according to that estimate, the quan- 

 tity as well as the quality is of the greatest impor- 

 tance, and has a claim to the best attention of ev- 

 ery one concerned in agriculture, or in the keeping 

 of any kind of live stock. 



The estimate generally made is, that one-third 

 only of the food taken in by a neat animal is part- 

 ed with as excrementitious matter or solid dung; 

 two-thirds therefore, according to that estimate, 

 must pass through the animal in a fluid form. What- 

 ever food is taken in, before it can be made availa- 

 ble for animal sustentation, must be converted into 

 a fluid ; for in a fluid state only can anything be 

 made available to renovate those parts of the ani- 

 mal system which in the performance of their func- 

 tions, are uiidergoing constant waste, as well to 

 supply those deriwinds which the' various secretions 

 constantly going on, are without interruption mak- 

 ing upon the system. The following e.\periments 

 detailed in the lstvo\. of British Husbandni, p. 25.^, 

 are pertinent to the subject. 



"On the 28th March, 1833, an experiment was 

 made with a large sized Yorkshire cow, which was 

 fed during four and twenty hours with the following 

 provender : 



81 lbs. brewer's giains, 

 30 lbs. raw potatoes, 

 15 lbs. meadow hay. 



The food thus amounted to 126 lbs. She drank 

 two pails full of water, and the urine was allowed 

 to run off; but she had no straw or litter of any 

 kind, and the weight of the solid dung which was 

 carefully swept up, amounted to 45 lbs. 



Another experiment was made with the same 

 cow a week afterwards, but with a change of food, 

 which was continued during some days, on the last 

 of which she consumed within the 24 hours, the 

 following quantity : 



170 lbs. raw potatoes, 

 28 lbs. of hay. 



As in the former experiment no litter was allow- 



ed, and the urine was let ofT, hut the solid dung 

 amounted to 73 lbs. 



Althougli not incidental to the subject in ques- 

 tion, it may, however, be worthy of remark, that al- 

 though the cow was in perfect health, yet on this 

 latter food her milk actually fell off at the rate of 

 very nearly two quarts a day. 



These ejfperiments, tliough to a certain extent 

 valuable, as showing the quantity of excrementitious 

 matter in relation to the food consumed, are yet 

 far from being satisfactory, as the exact quantity of 

 water drank, is tiot set forth with precision in one 

 case, and not at all in the other. The individual 

 in making the experiments did not seem to consid- 

 er that the drink to a certain extent, was ns neces- 

 sary to sustentation as the other food, and ought de- 

 cidedly before such experiments wor.ld have been 

 satisfactory, to have been set forth with precision. 

 However, as they are, the quantity of solid dung in 

 proportion to the food consumed is pretty clearly 

 shown, when the fluid taken by the animal has been 

 brought into account, to b<' under-estimated when 

 put dowri as ore to two. — Roberts' Hints on •Agri- 

 cuUural Economy. 



AGRICULTURE IN CANADA. 

 Notice has already been made in this paper of 

 "The Canadian Quarterly Agricultural and Indus- 

 trial Magazine" for August. If we again revert 

 to this magazine, its importance is a sufficient ex- 

 cuse. It cannot but be a matter of regret that this 

 «-Ork is not only not well supported, but that the 

 proprietor and editor, who has done great service 

 to this province by his former works on agriculture, 

 has not received suflicient patronage to pay the ex- 

 pense of publishing. No farmer should be without 

 this Magazine, and to every person residing in this 

 country, it will be of more or less benefit. We 

 have room to-day but for the f&llowing extracts on 

 "The Importance of Agriculture, &c," — Montreal 

 Herald. 



" The profession of agriculture is more favorable 

 to the entire development of the human faculties, 

 to the unfolding and perfecting of this physical-, 

 this intellectual, this mora! and immortal being 

 which God has given ua, than any other employ- 

 ment It imparts vigor to the body and the mind, 

 leaving the soul iVee from feverish excitements, to 

 imbibe as it were with its growth the lessons which 

 nature teaches ; in fine, it is capable of ministering 

 tlie most successfully of all arts and of all occi*ia- 

 tions to wealtli, to intelligence, and to virtife 



'1 he profession of agriculture is justly entitled- 

 to stand in the highest grade of dignity in every 

 country, and more particularly in British America, 

 agriculture must be the basis of all the indu?:trial 

 intere.=t3 in these provinces. It is the only producer 

 of the material of wealth — all others are but em- 

 ployed in working some change upon this material, 

 in transforming and shaping it to the conveniences 

 of civilized life. Enumerate these arts that are 

 practised here and elsewhere — the hatter, the cloth- 

 ier, the n;anufacturer of woollens and of cottons, of 

 iron, of leather in all its varieties, the tailor, the 

 cordwainer, the miller, the paper maker, the printer 

 even, could not carry on the purposes of their re- 

 spective callings a single day, were the materials 

 which they derive from agriculture to be entirely 

 withdrawn ; while agriculture rude, indeed, but 

 still agriculture in some sort, could subsist with lit- 

 tle aid from tliese or any arts. It is dependent, in- 

 deed, on other arta for its successful prosecution, 



but not for its very existence. Commerce is but 

 an interchange of the produce of agriculture, 

 wrought it may be, into ten thousand forms, but 

 still owing their original existence, and deriving 

 their seminal principle from the soil." 



We insert with great pleasure the subjoined com- 

 munication received from the East Indies from a 

 higlily valued friend, formerly an active and enter- 

 prising merchnnt of Boston, and who is himself the 

 mover in the enterprise here detailed. It has not 

 much to do with New England agriculture, yet the . 

 intelligent reader will gather important hints from 

 it ; and it shows in so strong a light the value of 

 enterprise directed by skill and intelligence, that 

 it cannot fail to be instructive as well as interest- 

 ing. H. C. 



To the Editor of the Singapore Free Press : 



Sir — In compliance with the desire expressed 

 by you for some information as to the result of the 

 attempt made by me to grow sugar canes, and to 

 manufacture the same into sugar, I have the pleas- 

 ure to send you the following statement. 



Soon after the series of remarks which I address- 

 ed to yon in the first numbers of the Free Press, 

 and which I trust contributed to remove the erro- 

 neous opinion then entertained of the agricultural 

 capabilities of this island, I undertook, notwith- 

 standing what was said and wri-ten about the sound- 

 ness of those remarks, to bring into cultivation a 

 piece of low clayey ground covered over with wa- 

 ter during the whole year — for it was overgrown 

 with a dense jungle and quite impervious to the 

 sun's rays. To remove this stagnant body of wa- 

 ter, it was necessary to cut outlets to a bend of the 

 river Kalang cm which the estate is situated at 

 some distance below, which, owing to the numer- 

 ous roots in the ground, proved to be a tedious and 

 expensive operation. The laborers too, very re- 

 luctantly persevered in the work because of tlie 

 annoyance of leeches, and but few could be had 

 who would venture their limbs to be lacerated bv 

 them. At last, when the water was got rid of and 

 the mud hardened suificiently to allow a footing to 

 the coolies, the under brush and the forest soon 

 fell under the axe, and with the lielp of the back- 

 woodman's faithful ally — fire — a clearing was 

 made. But fire could not reach the embedded 

 roots, and the first attempts at grubbing were truly 

 disheartening, for it often happened that when all 

 abovi; ground had been destroyed by fire, a few 

 days of dry sunshine would cause the surface of 

 the soil to settle, and bring ivithin reach of the hoe 

 or of the spade, logs of immense size, many of 

 which had probably for centuries been there bur- 

 ied ; and as they were in that state where it was 

 impos.^ible to burn them, the only resort was to cut 

 them up, and it not unfrequently gave rise to an 

 obstinate contest between the well-tempered Amer- 

 ican ;ixe, wielded by a nervous Chinese arm, and 

 the stubborn antediluvian. But that which was 

 then so disheartening is no longer so, for the labor- 

 ers now make nothing of such o'.>stacles — as a 

 matter of course they cut them up, and when taken 

 out, pile and burn them. 



When some twenty acres had been dre-ssed, it 

 was planted with Pernamliuco cotton ; and although 

 at first the young plants gave favorable indications, 

 disappointment soon followed, for they were attack- 

 ed by a red worm and withered ; and those which 

 were not destroyed gave too few pods, to make it 

 worth the while to continue the cultivation. Mean- 



