December 13. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 193 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
D 
W 
Weather near London in 
1853. 
Clock ! Day of 
af. Sun. Year. 
DECEMBER 12—18, 1854. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R.&S. 
Age. 
,2 
Tu 
Colymbetea futiginosus. 
29-934—29.782 
35—28 
S.E. 
— 
59 a 7 
49 a 3 
11 a46 
€ 
6 6 346 
13 
W 
Opilus mollis. 
29.579—29.333 
46—38 
E. 
— 
VIII 
49 
morn. 
23 
5 38 347 
14 
Th 
Phosphuga atrata. 
29.299—29.197 
43—25 
N.E. 
1 
49 
0 58 
24 
5 9 348 
15 
F 
Daisy flowers. 
29.244—29.196 
33—27 
N.E. 
— 
2 
49 
2 13 
25 
4 40 349 
is 
S 
Cambridge Term ends. 0 ! Sap. 
29.526—29.324 
33—27 
N. 
20 
3 
49 
3 33 
26 
4 11 350 ! 
17 
Son 
3 Sunday in Advent. 
29.098—29.647 
86—22 
N. 
— 
4 
49 
4 *6 
27 
3 41 351 
18 
M 
Oxford Term ends. 
29.661—29.516 
34—26 
S.E. 
— 
4 
49 
6 24 
28 
3 11 352 
Meoeti .>logy of THE Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-seven years, tho average highest and lowest tem- i 
peratures of these days are 46.4°, and 34.8°, respectively. The greatest heat, 6l° 
13th, in 1846. During the period 98 days were line, and on 91 rain fell. 
occurred on the 13th, in 1 
842 ; and the lowest cold, 11°, on 
In our very last number, page 192, we said, in answer 
to a correspondent — “Be assured that the artificial 
manure you refer to is no better than you could make 
from your own water-closets, mixed with water and 
applied in a weak liquid form. This home-manufacture 
is not appreciated as it will be, ere long, and as it is 
appreciated by the Chinese.” 
This opinion was not the offspring of the moment, 
but is founded upon observation, upon actual experi¬ 
ment, and upon the experience for ages of the whole 
Chinese empire. Dried cakes of manure manufactured 
from house sewage are exchangeable for goods in the 
Chinese markets, for the people are all, in some degree, 
cultivators of the soil; and in the cities, such of the 
inhabitants as have no gardens, sell the daily manure 
produced by their households, with a facility and at a 
price which competition aud a knowledge of its true 
value will secure for any home production. 
Of the value of house sewage we speak from actual 
experiment and observation, because we have seen it 
for years employed with marvellous results to grass, and 
to Asparagus-beds, by Cuthbert W. Johnson, Esq., at 
Waldronhurst, near Croydon; and because we have tried 
it ourselves with similar advantage to all crops which 
come under the care of the gardener. Among others, 
we have no doubt that it was the chief cause of supe¬ 
riority in some Pompone Chrysanthemums, one of 
which, Sacramento, had very nearly 700 blooms on a 
single plant, and which, at the time this is written, 
December 7th, is still a mass of yellow bloom in a con¬ 
servatory. 
There is little or no difficulty in applying house 
sewage as a manure. In the instances immediately 
under our own knowledge, the sinks aud water-closets 
all communicate by means of a main drain, with a 
water-tight well sunk in the ground at a distance from 
the house, and capable of containing some thousands 
of gallons. From this well it is pumped as needed. 
If it is to be applied to ground about to be dug for the 
Cabbageworts, it is put on without any diluting, at the 
rate of a pailful to about six square yards. If it is to 
be used for watering plants, one bucket of sewage to 
three buckets of water is quite strong enough. 
Short as is the time since we gave the answer at page 
192, yet have we received more than one enquiry as to 
how we would “ prepare a dry manure from the house 
sewage ? ” 
The process is very simple. Add a quarter-of-a-pound 
of oil of vitriol (Sulphuric Acid) to every bucket-full of 
sewage. The sewage should be from the water-closets 
only. Mix the sewage so acidulated with as much of 
coal-ashes, or of dry earth, as will soak it well up, and 
yet be haudable without wetting the hand. Mix a 
quarter-of-a-peck of Super-phosphate of Lime with each 
bushel of the sewaged ashes, or sewaged earth, and you 
i will then have as powerful a manure as almost any of 
those advertised as artificial manures. Keep it in a 
dry shed, and put in the drills with the seed, or with 
plants in a circle round each, and covered with an 
inch of soil. 
To demonstrate, from actual recent chemical research, 
how closely the best components of house sewage 
approach to Guano, one of the richest of manures, we 
will conclude by quoting the following analyses made 
by Professor Way, aud for which analyses we are in¬ 
debted to Johnson aud Shaw’s “ Farmer’s Almanack.” 
URINE. 
FAROES. i 
GUANO. 
Organic matter and salts 
of ammonia 
67,54 
88,52 
52,61 
Insoluble siliceous matter 
,90 
1,48 
1,54 
Oxide of iron 
,50 
,54 
Lime 
,60 
1,72 
Magnesia 
,47 
1,55 
\ 24,12 
Phosphoric acid 
4,66 
4,27 
) 
Sulphuric acid 
,46 
,24 
'l 
1 
Potash 
1,83 
1,10 
Soda 
Chloride of potassium 
Chloride of sodium (com- 
5,31 
31 
y 8 > 64 
i 
mon salt) 
18,88 
18 
j 
The Pomological Society held its monthly Meeting on 
the 4th instant, at its Rooms, No 20, Bedford-street, 
Covent Garden. Ten new members were elected, and 
collections of Apples, chiefly from the cider districts, 
were exhibited. The exhibitions of such collections are 
of the greatest utility; for they furnish the means not 
only of securing to the specimens their correct names, 
but of enabling the Society to report on the influence 
of soil and situation over each variety. When the first 
number of the Society’s Transactions appears, which, 
we are informed, will be in January, the practical I 
benefits derivable from such exhibitions, and of such 
a Society, will be apparent. 
We shall not enter into details of what took place, 
because we think that these should be first made public 
No. CCCXXlV. Yon. XIII. 
