March 2. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
415 
facture we have under discussion, it will be well to illustrate the growing crops it must be diluted with at least five 
it by collecting into a table some of the preceding figures. times its bulk of water. 
Fresh sprat 1.94 Dried sprat 5.40 Deprived of oil and 
dried sprats 11.53 
Do. herring 2.77 Do. herring 8.50 Do. do. herrings 14.74 
Do.haddock 3.53 Do.haddoekl3.76 Do.do.haddock 14.40 
Do. whiting 3.43 Do. whiting 14.43 Do. do. whiting 15.82 
“ We have now sufficient data for investigating the im¬ 
portant practical question to which reference has been 
already made—viz., the number of tons of fresh sprats, her¬ 
rings, haddock, or whiting, necessary for giving a single ton 
of Petit’s guano. This question may be solved in more ways 
than one ; but the simplest, and I believe the most accurate, 
will be to divide 10.13, the per centage of nitrogen in the 
fish guano, as determined by my analysis, by the number 
which represents the per centage of nitrogen in the fresh 
fish ; the quotient will obviously represent how many tons 
of the latter will be necessary to yield one of the former. 
The following are the results of this arithmetical opera¬ 
tion :— 
In the case of sprats .. i£ii*=5.22 
1.94 
herrings .. l? j jj =3.65 
8 2.77 
haddock .. i2i?=2.87 
3.53 
whiting .. ]£lL?=2.95 
3.43 
“It thus appears that one ton of our fish guano will 
require for its production 5.22 tons of sprats, 3.65 of her¬ 
rings, 2.87 of haddock, and 2.95 of whiting. I may observe, 
too, that these numbers must be not over, but a little under 
the mark ; for in Petit’s process, the fish, I understand, is 
partially dried in a centrifugal machine, and if so, the liquids 
squeezed out must contain some proportion of azote.” 
We desire to draw especial attention to the fact that 
Dr. Apjohn, and all other modem men of science, found 
their estimate of the value of a manure upon the amount 
of ammonia or of nitrogen—the basisof ammonia—which 
it contains. This view of the value of manures was 
published by the writer of these remarks nearly thirty 
years ago, in Loudon’s Gardener's Magazine, but we 
note this, not for the purpose of saying “that’s my 
thunder,” but for the sake of pointing out the far more 
important fact, that all are agreed in the estimate of the 
great fertilizing power of ammonia. 
It has been shewn, that on the roof of an ordinary 
house enough rain and snow fall in the course of 
twelvemonths to supply, if properly preserved, all its 
inmates with water during that period. So we are quite 
sure that the refuse and sewage of those inmates, if 
properly accumulated, are sufficient to manure the 
ground necessary to supply them with vegetable food. 
This is no merely theoretical view, but is founded 
upon well-ascertained facts. If all the bones of the 
butcher’s meat are broken into very small pieces, and 
thrown into a tank, and mixed with the vegetable 
refuse of the garden, or allotment, and all the coal- 
ashes ; and if in another tank are collected all the 
house-sewage, including that from the sink, and the 
water-closet—an ample supply of manure will be fur¬ 
nished for fertilizing the ground required to grow 
Wheat and garden vegetables for the family; for it 
must be remembered, that the sewage-manure must be 
applied in a liquid form ; and before being applied to 
Of the value of such manure no practical cultivator 
of the soil needs any testimony. It is most rich in 
ammonia, and is, in truth, too powerful to be used 
unless weakened in the way we have named. For 
those who may need further evidence, we quote the 
following from the Proceedings of the Royal Agricul¬ 
tural Improvement Society of Ireland, on the 7th of 
February last:— 
“ The Chairman (Lord Clonbrock) then rose and said, I 
should like to take this opportsnity of producing to this meet¬ 
ing another sort of manure which I had the means of partially 
testing myself. It is one that is made by the London Manure 
Company, and is called “ urate.” I believe the learned pro¬ 
fessor, in his analyses, says, that urate is not a very accu¬ 
rate name for it, but “ will not a rose by any other name 
smell just as sweet?” so call it what we will, I have proved 
it to be a very useful and valuable manure. I took it at 
first by the recommendations of some practical agriculturist 
in my own neighbourhood, who, having tested it, recom¬ 
mended it to my notice, and I sent a certain quantity to 
Dr. Apjohn, to be analyzed, and the result was, that I was 
a little alarmed at the time, for I was afraid it was a poor 
manure, but I merely read the result of the learned Pro¬ 
fessor’s analyses, without estimating the details of the 
analyzed itself. Not being a chemist myself, I did not 
understand the actual value ; however, I was determined to 
give the thing a fair and accurate trial, although, from my 
analyses, I was afraid I had got an inferior commodity, for 
we know very well that we are in the habit of being recom¬ 
mended to use manures which often turn out very worthless. 
I caused twelve drills, therefore, to be opened, one half of 
which I dressed with Peruvian guano, from Messrs. Gibbs, 
of first-rate quality, at the rate of four cwt. to the acre ; I 
thought with my new manure the best way would be to put 
in a quantity which was an equivalent value to the value or 
price of the Peruvian guano, and I was very much astonished 
and agreeably surprised at the result, and my turnips got 
up sooner, and my crop weighed considerably more than the 
crop raised from the guano. 
“ Mr. Read—I beg to confirm, my lord, what you have 
stated ; I did not know anything of the urate manure till I 
received a letter from Mr. Persse, of Galway, requesting I 
would give it a trial, and let him know the result. I did 
this last autumn when I was late with some green crops. 
He sent me a ton of it, and I applied it in the proportion 
you have mentioned—six hundred weight to the acre—and 
the result was quite beyond my expectations. The crop is 
beyond an average crop, greater than I have ever been able 
to grow with Peruvian guano, and it will be a very profitable 
investment at £7 15s a ton. It was coarse moor land where 
I tried it, and I thought it would be a failure on such land, 
but, as I had no other manure for the ground, I ventured 
on it, and the result was extraordinary. I have rape now 
growing one-and-a-half-feet high, which was not sown till 
very late, indeed, in the month of August. 
“The Chairman—I have tried it with rape exactly in the 
same way. I tried it also with rape and bones, but in 
alternate drills. The bones produced comparatively nothing, 
while, with the urate, the rape was good. I tried the urate, 
also, on oats last year, and no one could go into the field 
without seeing the improvement at a distance. I have no 
doubt of its very great value as a manure. 
“ The analyses of the urate is in our journal, but I 
think, as I said before, to the unlearned reader that 
analyses would rather disappoint him ; at least it did me, 
and, perhaps, it may other people. If Dr. Apjohn will say a 
few words on it, perhaps it would answer the same purpose 
as if it were analyzed again. He will explain to the meeting 
how it is that it is valuable. 
“ Dr. Apjohn—With respect to its being valuable, it 
requires very little corroboration on my part. I had never 
any doubt that it was a good manure. It contains phos¬ 
phate of lime, four per cent, superphosphate, and three per 
cent, of ammonia, and any mixture containing these con- 
