18 
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY.-DISEASES OF' ANIMALS. 
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND GEO- 
LOGY.—No. IV. 
Q. Why do old dairy pastures especially require 
nones ? 
A. Because milk and cheese contain hone-earth, 
ind if these be carried away and sold off the farm, 
me land is robbed by degrees of this bone-earth, 
nore than of any other substance. Only those 
grasses can then grow which require little bone- 
-.'ath. 
Every ten gallons of milk contain about half a 
pound of bone-earth. A cow, therefore, which 
gives tw r enty quarts a day, takes about two pounds 
of bone-earth from the soil every week. To re¬ 
turn these two pounds to the soil three pounds of 
bone-dust are required. 
Q. Is hair much used as a manure ? 
A. No, hair is generally too expensive to be 
ised as a manure. But, in China, where the 
people’s heads are all shaved, the shavings are 
collected for manure, and the sweepings of our 
L-air-cutters’ rooms might be also employed with 
profit. 
Q. In what form is wool used as a manure ? 
A. In the form of woollen rags. Mixed with 
earth, woollen rags make an excellent compost. 
Q. What kinds of animal dung are most com¬ 
monly employed as manures ? 
A. Night-soil, horse dung, cow dung, sheep’s 
dung, pigs’ dung, and birds’ dung. 
Q. Which of these is the most valuable? 
A. In general, night-soil and birds’ dung are the 
•nost valuable; next, horse dung; after that, pigs’ 
lung, and lastly, cow dung. 
Q. Why is night-soil so valuable ? 
A. Because men generally live upon a mixture 
>f animal and vegetable food, which renders the 
lung richer. 
Q. Why is the solid part of horse dung richer or 
rotter than cow dung? 
A. Because the horse voids little urine compared 
vith the cow. 
Q. What is the principal objection to using pigs’ 
lung ? 
A. The disagreeable smell and taste it is said to 
'ive to the crops raised from it. 
Q. What is the best w’ay of using pigs’ dung? 
A. The best way is to make it into a compost, or 
•:0 mix it with the dung of other animals. 
Q. Why is cow dung colder and less liable to 
rerment than most other kinds of dung. 
A. Because the large quantity of urine voided 
oy the cow, carries off a great proportion of that 
which would otherwise cause it to ferment. 
Q. How would you collect the liquid manure 
of your farm-yard? 
A. I would make a large tank or cistern in or 
close by my farm-yard, in which I would collect it. 
Q. How would you use this liquid manure ? 
A. I would pump it back occasionally upon my 
dung heaps, so as to promote their fermentation; or 
J w^uld pour it upon my compost heaps. 
Q. Does birds’ dung form a very valuable 
manure ? 
A. Yes, pigeons’ dung especially, is a very rich 
manure; and the dung of sea-fowl has lately been 
introduced into this country, with great advantage, 
under the name of guano 
Q. What is nitrate of soda ? 
A. Nitrate of soda is a white salt-like (saline) 
substance, which is found in tne earth in some 
parts of Peru, and is often applied with great ad¬ 
vantage as a top-dressing to grass lands and to 
young grain. 
Q. What does nitrate of soda consist of ? 
A. It consists of nitric acid and soda. 
54 lbs. of nitric acid, and 31 lbs. of soda, form 85 lbs. 
of nitrate of soda. 
Q. What is nitric acid ? 
A. Nitric acid is a very sour corrosive liquid, 
called also aqua-fortis. It consists of the two gases, 
nitrogen and oxygen. 
14 lbs. of nitrogen and 40 lbs. of oxygen, form 54 lbs. 
of nitric acid.— Prof. Johnston. 
DISEASES OF TnIMALS.— No. L 
I have recently seen in your journal some no¬ 
tice and review of Mr. Morrel’s work on Sheep 
husbandry; and as I intend from time to time to 
make a few communications on the various dis¬ 
eases of sheep and other animals, it has brought to 
my mind one very singular, and perhaps to others, 
unobserved disease, which I will give some history 
of, by way of introduction to my future numbers. 
On riding out to my farm one pleasant morning, 
some time in January last, my tenant informed me 
that one of my ewes, which came in the night pre¬ 
vious with a pair of twin lambs, had just died. She 
being a fine young ewe of an uncommon breed for 
thrift and quality, I felt on that account a particulai 
interest in ascertaining the cause of her death. 
My tenant told me that for a few days, just pre¬ 
vious to her yeaning, she had been dull, would not 
eat with the flock, and would stand out in the field. 
I went out to the field where was the body, found it 
still quite warm, examined its external appearance 
very critically, could not discover any marks ot 
violence or injury, and consequently proceeded to 
have a personal examination, which is always 
my practice when any of my stock dies from dis¬ 
ease, or any unknown cause, which I hope will 
give additional worth to the cases I shall report, as 
every examination has been made by myself. 
On first exposing the abdominal viscera and the 
contents of the thorax, every part appeared to be in 
so healthy a condition, I imagined I should be 
baffled to account for the cause of its death; but on 
opening the womb, I readily discovered extensive 
disease; the whole internal surface was studded 
with a kind of tumor, called in human medicine the 
cauliflower excrescence. This is a tumor which 
resembles the cauliflower in appearance, and which 
has been sometimes noticed in the human subject, 
as a disease of females, a drawing of which, to¬ 
gether with hydatids, another tumorous disease, 
may be seen in Dr. Dewees’ excellent work on the 
Diseases of Females. These tumors in the ewe 
spoken of, were of a flesh color; the texture ap¬ 
peared to be extremely delicate, and a fluid of a 
bloody watery nature seemed to be discharging from 
the hurt or wound, occasioned, in all probability, 
from 'parturition. 
This case is interesting in many respects; for 
such tumors or diseases are very seldom met with 
in the human female, and for the few cases which 
are on record, no adequate cause could be assigned 
