£90 
On Soap-Suds as a Manure . 
washing, other pits were dug and filled ; so that the whole 
garden, a small portion only excepted, has in this manner 
heen watered and enriched : that small portion remains a 
visible demonstration of the utility of this manure. There 
vegetation is still languid ; while the residue of the gar- 
den, invigorated by the suds only, annually exhibits a 
luxuriance almost equal to any thing this fertile neigh- 
bourhood can produce. I am, &c. 
George Irwin. 
Remarks by the Reverend Thomas Falconer. 
1. The above important experiment may perhaps re- 
mind the reader of the principal ingredients of the oil 
compost, suggested by Dr. Hunter of York. In the 
simple fluid manure we have an animal oil, potash, and 
water ; in the compost are the same oil and the same al- 
kali, but neither of them, perhaps, in so pure a state as in 
the manure, with the addition of “ fresh horse-dung.^ 
The fresh horse-dung is added, in order to produce 
“heat and fermentation; and a delay of “six months” is 
supposed to be necessary, to make the compost “fit for 
use.” All, however, that seems to be gained by the 
horse-dung, is the animal oil, which may be united to the 
alkali during the process of fermentation, and the straw* 
which in the fermentation of the compost will bind the 
mass together, and when decomposed on the ground will 
afford a small supply of vegetable matter. If we make 
the comparison strictly accurate on the other side, we may 
observe, that in the fluid manure there must be an in- 
creased quantity of animal matter in the water, after it has 
been used for the purpose of washing linen. 
The experiment then shows what is the advantage of 
the application of the oil and alkali only, as a manure, 
and perhaps the delay of “six months” in preparing the 
