1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
51 
ten times through the closet, has not had its com¬ 
position materially affected by the paper, faeces, 
and urine, with which it has been so often charged. 
The amount of these foreign matters has not been 
slight. The closets have been used—at a moderate 
average—by four grown persons for six years. It 
is estimated that the solid (dry) matter voided in a 
year by an adult is, in the faeces, 33 lbs, and in the 
urine 34 lbs. Assuming that one-third of the urine 
was voided into the closets, the total dry matter 
would be about 34 lbs. yearly, for each person, mak¬ 
ing a total, for 4 persons and 6 years, of over 800 lbs. 
This solid matter would contain over 330 lbs. of 
nitrogen. The two tons of my material contain 
only about 400 lbs. of solid organic and volatile mat¬ 
ter, and probably the most of this was there before 
it went into the closet at all. The content of nitro¬ 
gen, by the analysis, will be only about 11 lbs.—in 
fresh earth, as per Vcelcker, it is about 13 lbs. 
Practically, all the solid and liquid excrement, and 
all the paper and chance rubbish that have gone in¬ 
to the closets, have entirely disappeared. 
It is very important for our purpose to know 
what has become of them. I venture the hypothe¬ 
sis that they have been as effectually destroyed 
by combustion, as though they had been thrown 
into a furnace. And I hazard the further inference 
that a load of stable manure, mixed with the soil of 
a field which is “summer-fallowed,” will go the 
same gait to destruction—and not the manure 
alone, but equally the enormous accumulation of 
organic remains (roots, etc.) left by its former 
crops. More or less of all this foreign matter will 
be turned to charcoal, in proportion to the thor¬ 
oughness with which the soil is opened to the air, 
and if the cultivation is very defective, much of it 
may thus escape entire destruction. If the cultiva¬ 
tion is very thorough, very little of it will escape. 
Al l porous substances condense gases within 
their pores—especially do they fill themselves with 
oxygen in a very active condition. A heap of cot¬ 
ton waste, saturated with grease from machine 
cleansing, sometimes breaks into actual conflagra¬ 
tion from the rapidity with which its oil is oxidized. 
Rapidity of oxidation gives intensity of heat, and 
“ spontaneous combustion ” is only such a hasten¬ 
ing of the process as to produce heat faster than it 
can escape safely. Charcoal (which is so porous 
that it has interior surfaces equal to from 50 to 100 
square feet to the cubic inch) condenses oxygen in a 
condition most serviceable for deodorizing pur¬ 
poses, and it is now well understood that it is not 
simply an absorbent of foul gases, but a destroyer 
of them. Not alone is this true with regard to 
gases, but to all organized matters. Leaves mixed 
with charcoal dust and made moist, entirely disap¬ 
pear. The oxidation is believed to be due, not at 
all to the chemical character of the carbon, but 
only to the porosity of the charcoal; and other sub¬ 
stances favor the process in proportion to their 
porosity. Platinum sponge is a very active inciter 
of destructive oxidation. Dry, or slightly moist 
earth is a busy agent in this work. A bit of mus¬ 
lin covered in the ground, soon becomes rotten, 
and in time disappears. The foulest human excre¬ 
ment, covered with sufficient earth to take up its 
moisture, without becoming so wet as to exclude 
the air, (oxygen), is at once deprived of all smell, 
and within a few weeks every trace of it has passed 
away. The common belief is that it is “absorbed ” 
by the earth. This is true, but it is probably ab¬ 
sorbed only to be consumed. The pores of the 
earth are the slow furnace in which it burns silently 
away, leaving only ashes behind. 
If this process takes place in the vault of the 
earth-closet, why not equally in the oft-turned 
soil of the open field, where the exposure to the air 
is so much more free ? It is not to be supposed, 
however, that the earth is no better fitted for plant 
growth by its use in the closet, nor that summer¬ 
fallowing is without great effect. The earth is not 
merely a passive container of the organic matters 
decomposing within it, and of the oxygen by which 
the decomposition is urged forward. It is a com¬ 
pound substance, the chemical combinations and 
the physical conformations of which are much 
modified by the chemical activities taking place 
within it. So far as its most important consti¬ 
tuents (mineral plant-food) are concerned, it is 
vastly benefited by these activities. Its particles 
are disintegrated, and its unavailable mineral food 
is developed for the use of roots. This result may 
very well justify a resort to summer-fallowing un¬ 
der proper conditions, and it may so add to the 
value of earth used in closets, as to make the ma¬ 
nure question a valid argument in favor of the 
earth-closet. The frequent good effect of bare 
fallowing, and the well known instances of the 
successful use of closet earth, can, it seems to me, 
be accounted for in this way, and in no other. 
All I maintain is that the loss of organic matter— 
roots, manure, etc.—in fallowing, and the entire de¬ 
struction of the corresponding matters in closet- 
earth, should be taken into the account in deciding 
our course; and that the common expression 
among farmers that land may be “plowed to 
death,” is based on a sound principle. 
Perhaps when we learn more about it, we shall 
know that the fertility is due less to the amount 
and kind of plant-food contained in the soil, than 
to the ceaseless changes of form and relative con¬ 
dition of its decomposing organic matters, and of 
the reaction of their resultant products, (and of the 
heat evolved), upon the more dormant mineral 
elements. Where all is seething with decomposi¬ 
tion and re-composition, there, perhaps, will the 
hungry young root find its best foraging ground. 
The greatest activity of disorganization may give 
the greatest activity of new organization. 
One more deduction may be made from all this: 
It has been held to be a leading and a very serious 
objection to the earth-closet system, especially for 
use in towns, that the labor of bringing in the enor¬ 
mous amount of earth required, and of carrying 
out the increased quantity from the closet recepta¬ 
cles, would call for too much costly handling. This 
objection would be a sound one were the earth to 
be regarded only as a medium for the odorless re¬ 
moval of the excrement; but if we accept the be¬ 
lief that it is only the lurking place of that best of 
all scavengers, oxygen, and that year after year the 
cleansing work may go on, over and over again, in 
the always purified recesses of the same earth—no 
trace of any impurity remaining—then our supply 
may be taken in, once for all. We shall need 
enough to give time for rest and oxidation, between 
the successive usings of each portion, but no 
provision need be made for frequent introduction 
of fresh material. My whole household has been 
amply provided by two small cart-loads of earth, 
brought iu six years ago, supplemented by the sift¬ 
ed ashes of the kitchen range and furnace. For a 
long time, even those have been carted away—we 
prefer the old stock, as fresh ashes are too dusty. 
It has been suggested that there may be danger 
of infection in the accumulation of closet-earth in 
connection with habitations. So far as experience 
goes, here, in Europe, in Jamaica, and in India, no 
contagion has ever been traced to a dry earth closet, 
nor to a sheltered heap of closet-earth. Petten- 
kofer’s “ground air” poisoning—if his theory is 
sustained—traces to occasional conditions of satu¬ 
ration. Closet-earth, properly managed, is always 
dry enough for the free entrance of air. It is not 
fermentation , but slow combustion, which destroys its 
burden of filth, and—if we may speculate on the 
feeble data now available—it is to fermentation, 
which Pasteur aptly calls “ life without a;r,” that 
we are to look for the reproduction of the Jiving 
germs of infectious disease. 
Mr. Haven (Mich.) writes that about two years 
ago he bought my work on Draining, and put in 
about 80 rods according to its directions. Some of 
the ground, cleared 15 years ago, had never been 
plowed. It was a wet muck-swamp with a boiling 
spring, which kept it saturated even in summer. 
The quicksand troubled him very much, but he put 
tarred paper on the joints, and packed the tiles in 
clay—using no porous matter over the tiles. The 
spring was led away by a 3i inch tile. The land is 
now sound and dry. If people would only under¬ 
stand that water enters the tiles from below, and 
that the top and side of every joint should be made 
as tight as paper will make them— to keep opt dirt 
—they would get a much better result from their 
work. Newspaper is as good as any other. All we 
need is to keep the dirt out, until it is firmly settled 
—after this it will hold itself in place. It is only 
the loose crumbs of new filling that will do harm, 
Mr. Haven employed no engineer. He simply fol¬ 
lowed the instructions of his book. 
In the autumn of 1867—nine years ago—Mr. 
T. T. Turner, of Normandy, Mo., gove 8350 for 
a Jersey cow. This was as high a price then, as 
$600 would be now. High though it was, it was a 
good investment. She and her descendants have 
brought Mr. Turner $330 in premiums at fairs. He 
has sold 31 of her descendants for $3,099, and has 
nine head now on hand worth, at the lowest esti¬ 
mate, $3,575. This'is a total of $6,004 in nine years. 
If he had given as much for this cow, as Mr. Chas. 
L. Sharpless has just paid for “Young Pansy,” 
($3,500), he could have added $1,000 for insurance, 
and still have made a profit. The fact is, that a 
good cow or a good bull lasts for ever. Captain 
Turner’s grand-son (if he keeps up the herd) will 
feel the influence of old “Plenty,” and so will all 
who own the descendants of her offspring which 
have been sold. One good ancestor starts a move¬ 
ment which will manifest itself to the remotest 
generation. Its blood lives on, and no one can esti¬ 
mate its ultimate value. Some day we shall have 
a herd aU the members of which are as good as 
good breeding can make them. Whoever owns 
this herd, can sell his best bull calves for $1,000 
apiece, as fast as he can supply them. Fortunately, 
Jersey breeding is in the hands of skillful men, 
working with a good organization, and determined 
that no “fancy” quality shall stand in the way of 
the highest dairy quality of the race. Fortunately, 
too, the better butter-making farmers appreciate 
the value of the breed, and there is reason to believe 
that before many years, Jersey blood will be a sine 
qua non in every butter-producing herd. 
It will be agreeable to many owners of good Jer¬ 
seys, to know that the rules of the American Jer¬ 
sey Cattle Club have been so modified, that animals 
imported from the Island can be entered on evi¬ 
dence of their importation, without the necessity 
for the photograph and certificate, which are now 
required. The date, importation, name of importer, 
etc., must be given of course. 
American Hops. 
The growing of hops in the United States is be¬ 
coming a staple business. It has been lifted out 
of its previous unsettled, speculative character by 
the demand for foreign export, which has now be¬ 
come settled and permanent. Foreign markets are 
now opened in England and Germany, and our pro¬ 
duct has acquired an established reputation. It is 
not to be expected that hop growers will in future 
dig up their yards in disgust, at the impossibility 
of disposing of their crop, but those who once 
enter the business will remain in it, taking good 
and bad seasons as they come, sure on the average 
of a fair profit for their labor. The past year’s 
crop amounts to 130,000 bales of 300 pounds each. 
Last year 60,000 bales were exported, and the prob¬ 
ability is that the present year’s export will equal 
that of last year. Up to November 1st, 1876, over 
55,000 bales had been received at New York, against 
34,000 bales up to the same date last year, and 
37,000 bales had been exported. The great hop¬ 
growing districts are in Western New York and 
Wisconsin, and the growers in these localities have 
formed an association for the collection of statis¬ 
tics, and of information relative to their business, 
which has been found of great value to their in¬ 
terests. In view of the established character of 
the American hop trade, and the promising future 
that may be expected for it, we may look for a con¬ 
siderable increase in the culture of this crop, and 
improved and more successful methods of manag¬ 
ing it, as regards diseases and vermin which affect 
it, and the processes of curing and preparing for 
market. The prices for the past year have averaged 
37 cents per pound, which has given a very profit- 
