MHE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



27 



zed by Thaer as " a mould," not properly 

 an earth, but a powdery substance, in a 

 greater or less degree found in the soil. 

 The fruitfulness of the soil depends on its 

 proportions, as likewise it is the only thing 

 in the soil, that gives nutriment to plants; 

 it is the remains of vegetable and animal 

 putrefaction — if dry, black and powdery ; 

 if moist, it has a smooth^ fatty feeling ; it 

 is different according to the bodies out of 

 which it is formed, but it has certain ge- 

 neral peculiarities or properties in which 

 it is essentially alike. 



Humus is a form of organic power, a 

 combination of carbon, hydrogen, nitro- 

 gen, and oxygen, and also in less quanti- 

 ties of sulphur, phosphorus and various 

 salts, gives nourishment to organism ; the 

 more life there is, the more humus ; and 

 the more humus, the more life. 



For examples in agriculture, we must 

 look to the Chinese ; they are known to 

 be the best agriculturists in the world — 

 the best and most scientific gardeners — 

 and the best trainers of plants. Our in- 

 quiry would naturally be, what manure 

 do they use? Is it the .manure from 

 horses ? No. They are seldom used by 

 them in agriculture. From stall fed cat- 

 tle? No. The stall feeding of cattle is 

 unknown to them. Human ordure? Yes. 

 Why? Because man eats all varieties of 

 food. The excrement of man contains 

 every known requisite to the growth of 

 plants. 



The excrements of a man used as a 

 manure can be made to produce a suffi- 

 cient quantity of grain to support him. 



Professor Liebig says in respect to the 

 quantity of nitrogen contained in excre- 

 ments, one hundred parts of the urine of 

 a healthy man are equal to thirteen hun- 

 dred parts of the fresh dung of a horse, 

 and to six hundred parts of that 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 effect of urine as a manure is 

 well known in Flanders; but human ex- 

 crements are considered invaluable by the 

 Chinese, who are the oldest agricultural 

 people we know. Indeed so much value 

 is attached to their influence by these peo- 



ple, that laws of the State forbid that any 

 of them should be thrown away, and re- 

 servoirs are placed in every house, in 

 which they are collected with the greatest 

 care. No other manure is used for their 

 corn fields. 



The following estimate I found in John- 

 son's Farmers' Encyclopedia, showing the 

 waste of invaluable manures in large ci- 

 ties; he says that by carefully conducted 

 experiments, and very accurate gaugings, 

 it has been found, that the chief London 

 sewers, convey daily into the Thames, 

 about 115,000 tons of mixed drainage, 

 consisting, on an average computation, of 

 one part of solid and twenty-five parts 

 absolutely fluid matters. Allowing one 

 part in thirty of this immense mass to be 

 composed of solid substances, then we 

 have the large quantity of more than 

 3,800 tons of solid manure, daily poured 

 into the river from London alone, consist- 

 ing principally of excrements, root, and 

 the debris of the London streets, which is 

 chiefly carbonate of lime; thus allowing 

 twenty tons of this manure as a dressing 

 for an acre of ground, there is evidently 

 a quantity of solid manure annually poured 

 into the river, equal to fertilizing more than 

 50,000 acres of the poorest cultivated 

 land ! The quantity of food thus lost to 

 the country by this heedless waste of ma- 

 nure is enormous, for only allowing one 

 crop of wheat to be raised on these 50,000 

 acres, that would be equal to the mainte- 

 nance of 150,000 persons. London is 

 only one instance of this thoughtless waste 

 of the agricultural riches of the soil of 

 England. How is it in our own country, 

 and even in our own city, are not the cor- 

 poration of New York now constructing 

 sewers through all- the principal streets, 

 leading directly to the Hudson, with a 

 view of carrying to that great receptacle, 

 substances that might, if saved, for agri- 

 cultural purposes, help to support thou- 

 sands ? 



The fertilizing liquid produced annually ' 

 by our population, 400,000, would amply 

 manure 60,000 acres of worn out land, 

 and make it yield to the amount of four 

 millions of dollars, to say nothing about 

 anthracite coal ashes, soot, charcoal dust. 



