VoL. L 
AUGUSTA, Ga., OCTOBER 25, 1843. 
No. 22. 
♦ P R I Z E 1^ S S A y . 
THE PREPAaA'IiON AND UftE OF MANUIlE^i. 
BY W-LLIS GAYBORD, 
(Continued from page 147.) 
USE OE PEAT OR SAVa.MP MUCK. 
According to Mr. Colnian, in his Fourth Re- 
port, two-thirds of the manure used on the ex- 
tensiYe garden and larm of Mr. Cushing, near 
Boston, IS made from meadow muck or peat. 
The compost, tor top dressing meadow and 
grass lands, is made by taking the muck from 
the pit in August or September, where it lies to 
tae next year. The compost heap is then made 
on .some convenient place, by spreading a layer 
of muck eight inches thick; on the muck four 
inches of ashes; then another layer of muck, 
and so on for five layers, making a pile five feet 
high, in the form of a ridge. This lies through 
the winter, is opened and mixed in the spring, 
and the next fall is spread on the land. The 
compost lor plowed lands is made ot two-thirds 
muck and one-lhird manure. Fresh matiure, or 
that which has not fermented, is always used, 
and care is taken not to put in so much muck 
as to prevent the compost’s heating. The fer- 
mentation of the manure dec imposes the muck 
rapidly, and when this is done, the compost is 
fit tor the land. Horse manure or unslacked 
lime, accelerates the fermentation — colder ma- 
nure retards it. It is tlie opinion of Mr, Cush- 
ing and his gardener, that muck for mixing with 
cow dung, or fur putting in hog styes, should be 
dug from the swmmp six months before using, 
as the action of the atmosphere facilitates the 
change necessary. Muck, without this prepar- 
atory fermentation, they consider of little im- 
portance as a manure. 
POND MUD. 
Pond mud, although not as rich in vegetable 
matter or humus as swamp muck or peat, is 
- still one of the most valuable of lertilizers. I'he 
quantity of earthy makers it contains, is rather 
an advantage than otherwise, when applied to 
light or sandy soils, and will rarely be tound in- 
jurious on any. As a manure, the action of 
pond mud is more immediate than that of un- 
iermented muck, owing to the much greater pro- 
portion of salts and silicates it contains. It is 
astonishing what quantities of this manure are 
lying wor.se than useless in the thousands of 
mill ponos in our counti y. In the winter of 
1839- 40, Mr. Whalen of Saratoga county, drew 
from a pond on the Kayaderos.seras creek, 1,000 
loads of pond muck, and put it on a field of 17 
acres, soil light and sandy, or gravelly, and re- 
duced by 5/an.?M72g until it would produce noth- 
ing but sorrel and mullein. This field, planted 
to corn, gave him 650 bushels. The extra pro- 
duct from the use ot this manure, he estimated 
at twenty bushels per acre. In the winter of 
1840- 41, he took from the same pond 700 loads, 
and applied it to two other fields, and with sim- 
ilar results. Mr. Whalen has also, at different 
times, drawn 800 loads from an ash swale, and 
found it to nearly or quite equal in its effect on 
vegetation, the pond mud. After the corn, Mr. 
Whalen has uniformly grown oats; and on these 
worn out land-s, where he “formerly would have 
lost his seed oats, as well as the grass seeds us- 
ed, he has been successful, both taking well 
where the mud or muck had been used. For 
haavy loams of clay, Mr. Whalen is of the opin- 
ion that a mixture of lime or yard manure, with 
the muck or mud, would be indispensable. — 
This mixture, the experience of Mr. Clark, of 
Psoitharnpton, and others, shows, is wellefiect- 
cd by placing the muck in the cattle yards or 
pig styes, to be incorporated with the manures 
by the feet or noses of the animals, and to act as 
absorbents of the ur me and soluble matters that 
are too frequently lost. 
NIGHT SOIL. 
Night soil, or the contents of privies, is one 
of the mostpowejful and valuable of manures; 
but prejudices, combined with the difficulties 
formerly attending its use, have prevented much 
attention to it in England or the United States, 
until within a lew years, in consequence, a 
substance of the greatest importance to the far- 
mer has been regarded as a nuisance, and, in 
the vicinity of large cities, has truly been so. 
Now, since science has taught the mode of pre- 
paring it for use, its use is becoming general, 
and its value lully appreciated. According u 
the analysis of manures, made by Boussingault 
and by Dr. Dana, there is no manure ordinarily 
accessible to the I'armer so rich in the carbonates 
or salts of ammonia as this. This will be seen 
by comparing it with horse dung, the value of 
which is well understood. 
Horse Manure. Night Soil. 
Geine 27. 23. 
Saits 96 1.2 
Carbonate of ammonia. .3.24 15.32 
HOG DUNG. 
The dung ‘^f the fattening hog approaches 
night soil in value, more nearly than any other; 
indeed, Mr. Dana supposes that for all the pur- 
poses ol analysis, these may be arranged under 
one head. In practical use, Von Thaer, on the 
Prussian government farm, determined by ex- 
periment its comparative value as follows; If a 
soil without manure, would j'ield three bushels 
of produce for one sown, manured with differ- 
ent substances the result was. 
Without manure 3 for 1 sown. 
With cow dung 7 “ 1 “ 
With horse dung 10 “ 1 “ 
With night soil 14 “ 1 “ 
COMPARATIVE VALUE OF NIGHT SOIL. 
In some experiments made by Anhur Young, 
and detailed in the Annals of Agriculture, the 
efiecl of this manure on wheat was as follows: 
Simple soil, per acre 12^ bush. 
Bushels of night soil 320 37j- “ 
“ “ 240 32i “ 
“ “ 160 31 J “ 
Cubicy’ds of farm yard compost. 60 25 “ 
“ “ “ » 30 23J “ 
30do and 1 cubic yard of chalk 25 “ 
Applied to potatoes, the resulis were not less 
decisive; 
Simple soil produced per acre .... 120 bush. 
Night soil, 10 wagon loads 609 “ 
Bones 10 “ 650 “ 
Hog dung, 60 1 horse cart loads. 480 “ 
Yard compost, 60 “ “ .,300 “ 
POUDRETTE. 
The most common method of using night soil, 
or ai least that in which it is most portable and 
least offensive, is to convert it into poudrette. 
This is done to the best advantage in large 
manuiactories; and hence they are usually er- 
tablished in the vicinity of large citie.s, where 
the original article is easily obtained. Differer.l 
proce.s.ses are adopted, but the most common is 
to slowly dry the night soil in pans, having pre- 
viously mixed it with plaster or ground peat. — 
The objec: in adding plaster or peat, is to pre- 
vent the escape of ammonia, on which the value 
of the mantue is mainly depending. The dried 
mass is then pulverized — is perfectly inoderous, 
reserr bles a dry browmish powder, and may be 
use broaddcasl or in drills. In Paris, a power- 
eiftil manure is made, also called poudrette, bv 
bulling the offals of the slaughter-houses into a 
thick soup, making this into a stiff paste by stir- 
ring in cold ashes, then drying and grinding. 
UR.ATE. 
Urate is a manure formed from a compound 
of urine, sand and pla.ster of Paris. In Parir- 
where the manufacture is most perfect the gypf 
sum is burnt previous to using. The value o- 
the urates, as a manure, will be better under 
stood from the annexed table. 
Water 65 
Urea 5 
Bone dust 5 
Sal ammoniac and muriate of potash 15 
Sulphate of potash 6 
Carbonate of potash and ammonia 5 
100 
From this, it will be seen that urate abounds 
in those substances most necessary to give fer- 
tility to soils. Dr. Dana remarks that a cord of 
loam, saturated with urine, is equal to a cord of 
the best rotted dung; and in some experiments 
made by the French Royal Society of Agricul- 
ture, which may be found detailed in the £>ic- 
tionaire d’ Agriculture Pratique, Paris, 1828, 
for the f urpose of comparing it with night soil, 
pigeon’s dung, &c., known to be very effective, 
the result Avas in favor of the urate. When 
mixed with dried right soil or poudrette, its ef- 
fect on various crops was very great. From 
the experiments there instituted, it appeared 
that urate alone acted most favorably in moist 
seasons. It must be remembered, how'ever, that 
night soil, when properly prepared, retains all 
the urine, or rather its fertilizing qualities; and 
the fact that urine is of itself so valuable a ma- 
nure, should put the farmers on their guard 
again-t suffering it to be lost from their stables 
and y;-rds, as is usually done. 
USE OF NIGHT SOIL. 
Where the farmer is so situated that no pou- 
dre'te manufactsries are within his reach, he 
will find that bv making it into a compost with 
swamp muek, ashes, peat or gypsum, he will 
have a manure that may be easily applied, and 
which will possess great fertilizing' powers. — 
The Chinese have long been celebrated lor the 
extensive u.se of night soil. Their method is to 
make it into cakes leith a rich marl, which, 
when dried in the sun, constitute a regular arti- 
cle of traffic, almost a legal tender. The Flem- 
ings were the first of the Europeans to make a 
common use of night soil as a manure, and 
hence its name of Flemish manure. There it- 
is applied directly, and without preparation, to 
any crop for which manure is wanted: and the 
superiority of Flemish agriculture, and the great 
fertility of their soils, may be, in a great mea- 
