AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 365 



short space of time, the mass can be handled and used as a manure without 

 objection of any kind. We are glad to state that the prejudices against it 

 are fast giving way, and that it is coming into use in many parts of New 

 Jersey, Long Island, and elsewhere, the cities supplying it in large quan- 

 tities. Agriculturists speak of it with admiration, and fully confirm the 

 statements that have been made in regard to it, not only as a fertilizer, but 

 as to the readiness with which it can be deodorized on being mixed with 

 any kind of earthy matter. 



"We have not heard of night-soil being mixed with gypsum or plaster, 

 but from the readiness with which this latter substance combines with and 

 fixes ammonia, it is probable that such combination would be attended 

 with good results, as it is based on correct chemical afiinity. 



" But the most curious fact is yet to be stated. Mr. Moule calls the 

 attention of his readers to a passage in the Bible, Deuteronomy, chap, xxiii, 

 verses 12 and 13. By reference to this passage in Holy Writ, it will be 

 seen that mankind had a scriptural injunction how to dispose of the excre- 

 mentitious part of our nature precisely as pointed out by modern writers. 

 This was done 3,000 years ago, and by the inspired hand of Moses ! Yet 

 we have been heedless of it almost to the present hour. How true is the 

 trite adage — ' nothing new under the sun.' 



" The great objection to the use of night-soil being obviated by the pro- 

 cess above described, it remains to be poinded out which is the best modp 

 of conveying the substance from towns to the country. This will suggest 

 itself to those who are engaged in the business, and if it can be done econo- 

 mically, there will be a large demand for the article, for as a fertilizer it is 

 most valuable, while it takes from the cities a miisafice, which, when carried 

 into the country, produces a nutriment . The farmers of Monmouth county, 

 New Jersey, as we have said, are already alive to its value, and beginning 

 to employ it extensively, and with the best results. They deodorize it by 

 mixing with earth exactly on Mr. Moule's plan ; and when so mixed they 

 handle it without reluctance. A pinch or two of the compost put in each 

 hill of corn, gives the seed the early start, which is so necessary in a cold 

 and backward spring. Already several vessels have arrived at Millstown 

 Point with the article, stowed in bulk, as the sailors express it. From the 

 vessels' holds it is passed into tight box-wagons, made for the purpose, and 

 in this way conveyed to the respective farms for use, without unpleasant- 

 ness to any one. The market gardeners on the South river have employed 

 it, and produced from it the finest cabbages sent to market. 



" A few years ago there was a contrivance in use for exhausting privies 

 by means of a hose and pump, acting upon the principle of a stomach 

 pump. With the use of this instrument vaults can be emptied with expe- 

 dition and cleanliness, and the offensive matter carried in carts and dis- 

 charged into vessels in the night-time, and by these vessels taken to the 

 country. When sold at seven cents per bushel, as it now is at the landing 

 places, it becomes the cheapest manure known, and deserves the attention 

 of every practical agriculturist iu the country. 



