SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
325 
ated, multitudes have made large fortunes at the South, 
But at what a cost'? Let the worn out fields of the older 
parts of the South answer. 
The agricultural histories of the Northern colonies dif- 
fered materially from that of the Southern. The unfriend- 
liness of their climate allowed no exhausting article of ex- 
port. The industry of the colonists was devoted to pur- 
suits which, while they were reasonably remunerative, 
did not, by comparison, exhaust the soil. A large portion 
of the produce of the soil was returned to it after having 
passed through the bowels of domestic animals. Mark 
the result. An acre of naturally thin land, infested with 
rocks, in the severe climate of Massachusetts may now 
sell for S200, while an acre of better land, under the 
genial sky of Georgia, may be bought for S5- 
When used and not abused, the cotton plant is the most 
valuable plant, perhaps, which a kind Providence has be- 
stowed upon man. But its cultivation should be subor- 
dinated to the higher end of the improvement of the soil. 
Otherwise, we shall but continue the agricultural disasters 
of our Colonial history. 
While the influence of the Society, whose premiums we 
have considered, was hurtful to the Southern colonies, we 
have referred to the fact of its salutary influence at 
home. 
We cannot strictly 'mitate this example. Our private 
fortunes are too small to incur the necessary expense of 
these costly premiums to adventurous industry. But v/e 
have a public fortune. We have a “public purse.” We 
close this article by quoting from the September nurffter 
of this journal, the fanguage of Gen. Washington: “In 
proportion as nations advance in population and other 
circumstances of maturity, this truth becomes more ap- 
parent and renders the cultivation of the soil more an ob- 
ject of public patronage. Institutions for promoting it 
(Agriculture) grow up, supported by the public purse ; 
and to what object can it be dedicated with greater pro- 
priety.” H. 
“^NIGHT SOIL”— ‘«ORDURE”-'-“POUDRETTE.” 
In accordance with the desire of our esteemed corres- 
pondent, Col. J. T., of Hancock county, Ga, we give the 
following article from the works of Liebig: 
Night-Soil . — In respect to the quantity of nitrogen con- 
tained in exrements, 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 v/ell known in Flanders,* but they are 
considered invaluable by the Chinese, 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 
*See the article “On the Agriculture of the Netherlands,” 
Journ. Royal Agri. Soc,, vol. ii, part 1, page 43, for much 
inieresting information on this subject. 
house, in which they are collected with the greatest care. 
No other kind of manure is used for their corn fields.f 
China is the birth-place of the experimental art ; the 
incessant striving after experiments has conducted the 
Chinese a thousand years since to discoveries, which 
have been the envy and admiration of Europeans for 
centuries, especially in regard to dyeing and painting, and 
•fDavis, in his History of China, states that every sub- 
stance convertible into manure is diligently husbanded. 
“The cakes that remain after the expression of their veget- 
able 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 plas- 
ter on a kitchen for the sake of the old.” The ammonia 
contained in the fuel forms 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 especi- 
ally night-soil, is esteemed above all others. Being some- 
times formed into cakes, it is dried in the sun, and in this 
state becomes 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 vegetables and animal refuse are 
collected. These 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 copiously with their 
liquid preparation.” 
) “The Chinese husbandman,” observes Sir G. Staunton, 
(Embassy, vol. ii,,) “always steeps the seed he intends to 
sow in liquid manure, untill 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 communication 
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 substances 
convertible into manure are carefully deposited, the whole 
made liquid by adding urine in the proportion required, 
and invariably applied in that state.” This is exactly the 
process followed in the Netherlands. See “Outlines of 
Flemish Husbandry,” page 22. 
“The business of collecting urine and nightsoil employs 
an immense number of persons, who deposit tubs in every 
house in the cities for the reception of the inmates, which 
vessels are removed daily, with as much care as our farm- 
ers 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 dotvn 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 vulue of the manure thus lost amounts annually 
to several millions of pounds sterling. A substance, which, 
by its putrefaction, generates miasmata, may, by artificial 
means, be rendered totally inoffensive, inodorous, and 
transportable, and yet prejudice prevents these means be- 
ing resorted to. — Liebig. 
