THE CULTIVATOR. 
351 
Represented by the above cut, is manufactured at Rochester, N. Y., by M. D. & T. H. Codding. Its symmetry 
of form and proportion, are such as to secure to it the qualities of lapping the furrows, or of turning them perfectly 
Rat—but more naturally gives the half lap, which possesses all of the advantages of both the other forms, with 
none of their disadvantages; and leaves the soil very loose and friable, which is the result of its concave form, which 
also gives it great superiority for turning in stubble and clover, which it completely covers. Turns uphill per¬ 
fectly, and is very superior for working in stony and hard land. It runs very steady, and requires less power to 
do a given amount of work, than a plow made on any other principles, if of the same size. The wood work, 
which is of the very best of white oak, is all prepared by machinery, and put together in the most simple and sub¬ 
stantial manner; the castings are polished; and to suit every variety of taste, the coulter, roller, and clevy fixtures 
are made after several different models, some of the new ones being very superior in many respects. 
Rochester , N. Y., Oct. 10, 1844. M. D. Codding. 
DISINFECTION OF FECAL MATTER: 
Its cheap and immediate conversion into manure. 
Agriculturists are acquainted with the powerful prop¬ 
erties of poudrette manure. The expense of its prepara¬ 
tion and transport has hitherto limited its use to gardens 
and farms in the neighborhood of its manufactory. From 
the facts contained in the following letter, laid by M. 
Dumas before the French Institute in July, and which we 
commend to the serious attention of our readers, we 
learn that this potent auxiliary of production may be made 
quickly and at a trifling cost on every farm. The disin¬ 
fecting agent used, is the sulphate of iron, or the copper¬ 
as of the shops, which can be purchased at $1,37 a the 
hundred pounds. Should the practice of using it for this 
purpose become general, it is evident a great addition 
will be made to the resources of agriculture, particularly 
in the neighborhood of towns and villages. There is 
one application of the solution of copperas, not alluded to 
in the letter, which we would suggest to those who shall 
make a trial of it; we mean its application to the ordina¬ 
ry dung-hill. If each new layer added to a manure heap 
were sprinkled with copperas water, much, if not all of 
that most valuable element, the ammonia, which is now 
lost by its volatility, would be converted into a fixed salt, 
and thus saved. We suppose, of course, that the double 
decomposition which ensues on the addition of sulphate 
of iron to human excrement, would take place equally in 
the farm yard, a fact easily determined by experiment. 
T. 
Translated from the Moniteur Industriel of July 11, for the Cultivator. 
Sir—I n experimenting upon the simplest and most 
economical practical means of saturating the carbonate 
of ammonia of fecal substances, I have ascertained that 
sulphate of iron is to be preferred. This salt in small 
crystals and of the commonest quality, may be had for 8 
or 10 francs the quintalmetrique, (2204 lbs. avoirdupois- 
in Albany, copperas is sold at from $1,37^ to $1,75 per 
100 lbs.,) and is more easily transported" and managed 
than acids, which may occasion accidents in unpracticed 
hands. But sulphate of iron offers another remarkable 
advantage which must secure for it a preference. 
The noxious and disagreeable effluvia exhaled by fecal 
substances, proceeds chiefly from the volatilization of 
carbonate of ammonia and sulphuretted hydrogen gas. 
which has been often fatal to scavengers. If we pour a 
solution of sulphate of iron into fecal matters, a double 
decomposition immediately takes place; the sulphuric 
acid of the sulphate combines with the ammonia, con¬ 
verting it into a fixed salt, and the iron forms with the 
sulphur, sulphuret of iron. The exhalations of ammoni- 
acal vapor and sulphuretted hydrogen immediately disap¬ 
pear, and the fecal substances lose all but a slight smell, 
peculiar to them, combined with the odor of the little 
vegetable matter they contain, and are not at all offensive. 
When these substances are sufficiently liquid, the solid 
excrements are dissolved (in great part;) what remains, 
precipitating as a blackish slime. 
I obtained this result by treating in the above manner, 
the contents of my house privy. The liquid I used at two 
degrees of strength for watering my garden, and the 
blackish deposit of trifling voIume_.whic.hJha<] subsi¬ 
ded, was spread upon the beds without occasioning the 
least inconvenience. 
Fecal matters saturated with a solution of sulphate of 
iron may be transported by day as easily as common ma¬ 
nure, without incommoding any body. As they form a 
very rich manure, they can be carried to greater distan¬ 
ces than ordinary dung, and be readily diluted to two de¬ 
grees to be used in the liquid form. (By two degrees, 
are meant two degrees of Beaume’s hydrometer, which 
is graduated to 72 degrees generally—the first degree 
corresponding with water taken as unity—the last repre¬ 
senting a liquid of twice the density of water, so that 2 
degrees indicates a liquid of a density 1 1-72 greater than 
water.) 
Fecal substances without previous saturation lose their 
carbonate of ammonia, which volatilizes, and are thus 
deprived of their most energetic fertilizing element. 
The greater part of human excrements are lost at the 
present day, because they are not collected with care nor 
properly treated, on account of the repugnance they in¬ 
spire. Yet they are of immense importance to agricul¬ 
ture. The solid and liquid excrements of a man may be 
estimated at 1.65 pounds per day, or 618 pounds per an¬ 
num, containing 3 per cent of nitrogen, or 18 pounds, a 
sufficient quantity, according to Boussingault, to produce 
880 lbs. of wheat, rye or oats. 
Some portions of a meadow which I watered last year 
with a solution of ammoniacal salts at one degree, of two 
quarts to the square yard, still continue to exhibit supe- 
