210 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 12, 1859. 
manure than in our own country. How fully that high estimate 
is justified may be at once understood by a reference to the 
following analyses. 
Liebig, quoting Playfair, says that human feces are composed 
as follows :— 
Water # . 300.00 
Carbon ’.45.24 
Hydrogen.6.88 
C.}. 
Salts and earths.13.15 
400.00 
Human urine, according to Berzelius, contains— 
Urea ........ 3.01 
Uric acid ...... 
. . .10 
Animal matter, lactic acid, and lactate of ammonia 1.71 
Mucus . . 
Sulphate of potash .... 
.37 
jj soda • • » • 
. . .32 
Phosphate of soda .... 
.29 
Chloride of sodium .... 
. . .45 
Phosphate of ammonia 
. ■ . .17 
Chloro-liydrate of ammonia 
. . .15 
Phosphate of lime and magnesia 
.10 
Silica, a trace ..... 
Water ...... 
. 93.30 
100.00 
There is no validity in an objection to night soil on account of 
its offensive smell, because that smell is rendered very slight 
when diluted with the other sewage and rain water from the 
house, and is perfectly deodorised in a few minutes by the earth 
upon which it is poured. 
It is rendered still less offensive before application, if required 
in a solid state, by mixing it with coal ashes, earth, and gypsum. 
The best proportions we havo found to be two barrows full of 
ashes, three of earth, and one of gypsum. Enough of this mix¬ 
ture must be incorporated with the night soil to render it so dry 
as to be easily spread by the shovel. The mixture was suggested 
by a knowledge of the chemical facts that gypsum (sulphate of 
lime) unites with the ammonia of the night soil; whilst the 
carbon in the ashes, and the alumina in the earth, act as de¬ 
odorisers. 
Guano —the excrements of sea fowl, and the remains of marine 
animals—is another most powerful manure. It is composed 
chiefly of carbon, hydrogen, azote, and oxygen ; but is rendered 
especially valuable by some of these being combined in the form 
of ammonia, and by containing earthy phosphates in a soluble 
form. 
The following analyses are by Professor J. F. Johnston:— 
Kinds. 
Water. 
Ammoniacal 
matter. 
Earthy 
phosphates. 
Peruvian... 
0 
56 to 
66 
16 to 
23 
Chilian. 
... 10 
13 
50 
56 
22 
30 
Bolivian . 
6 
65 
64 
25 
29 
Ichaboe. 
18 
26 
36 
44 
21 
29 
fc’aldauha, light. 
... ( 17 
27 1 
,, dark . 
... i 33 
44 j 
Algoa Bay . 
1 2.26 
• j 23.03 
22.37 
23.16 
70.20 
43.15 
Halifax. 0 . 
... 24.47 
20.61 
22.67 
Bird's Island . 
... 25 49 
... 14.18 
j 19 to 
21 { 
22.43 
5.37 
Patagonian, light. 
,, dark. 
... 40.99 
... 20.55 
j 20 
25 
24 to 
32 
Dr. Fownes found, in one analysis, the ammoniacal consti¬ 
tuents and eareny phosphates were in the following proportions, 
but they vary very much in their relative quantities. 
Oxatate of ammonia . . . . . h 
Uric acid.C 66.2 
Carbonate of ammonia, &c. - . . . . ) 
Phosphates of lime and of magnesia . . . 29.2 
Alkaline phosphates, chlorides, and sulphates . 4.6 
100.0 
The dungs of pigeons and domestic fowls arc somewhat like 
guano, but they contain more of the earthy phosphates and less 
of the ammoniacal constituents. 
The Deainage jfeom a Dunghill contains some of its 
soluble and most fertilising constituents. Therefore, it is best 
made under a shed in a waterproof pit, and communicating with 
a well, into which the drainage may pass, and from which it may 
be readily obtained. It is a powerful liquid manure requiring to 
be largely diluted with water. 
A specimen of such drainage from heaps of cowdung exposed 
to rain were found by Professor Johnston to be dark-coloured, 
and, of course, contained only what rain water is capable of 
washing out of such dungheaps. An imperial gallon of these 
j drainings, when evaporated to dryness, left about 480 grains, or 
an ounce weight of dry solid matter. This solid matter consisted 
Ammonia ...... 
Grains. 
. . 9.6 
Organic matter .... 
. 200.8 
Inorganic (ash) ..... 
. . 268.8 
The inorganic portion contained— 
Alkaline salts . • . 
479.2 
Grains. 
. . 207.8 
Phosphates of lime and magnesia 
. 25.1 
Carbonate of lime (chalk) 
. . 18.2 
Carbonate of magnesia and loss 
. 4.3 
Silica, and a little alumina . 
. . 13.4 
268.8 
Those, therefore (observes the Professor), who, besides allowing 
the urine of their byres to run to waste, permit the rain to wash 
their dunghills, suffer a double loss ; they lose the ammonia-pro¬ 
ducing substances, and much alkaline matter in the urine and 
the phosphates, and a large additional portion of alkaline, matter 
in the washings. 
Wood charcoal reduced to powder, charred sawdust, and 
charred peat, are all capable of being used with advantage in ex¬ 
tracting the ammoniacal and other salts which give its value to 
the liquid of the farmyards. Experiment has shoe'll that, when 
filtered through a bed of such charcoal, the liquid escapes with¬ 
out colour, and almost without taste, while the charred peat or 
sawdust is itself converted into fertilising manure. Wherever, 
therefore, such charcoal can be obtained in abundance, and at 
little cost, this mode of employing it may be both useful and pro¬ 
fitable.— ( Trans. High. Soc., 1846, p. 191.)—J. 
(To be continued .) 
RETAINING MOISTURE ABOUT GREENHOUSE 
PLANTS. 
Those possessing a small greenhouse no doubt are well aware 
that, during dry weather (such as we have had here for many 
weeks, excepting a very few intervals of rain), there is a great, 
lack of moisture in such a house, owing to the great heat of the 
sun and dryness of the atmosphere. We are in possession of 
blinds, &c., to keep out the sun ; and to shut the doors to keep in 
the moisture would be ruinous to the plants, because three-fourths 
of their existence are from the air they breathe. 
Now for the practice to obviate this parching burning heal. 
My greenhouse is a lean-to, facing the south. Well, a few weeks 
ago 1 took out all my shelves, and around them I nailed one-inch - 
and-a-half laths (two inches would do better), and upon them 
I placed a thick layer of sand ; of course, upon this sand I place 
my pots. In watering my greenhouse, the sand receives its share. 
The house is moist, the plants and roots also ; and if any friend 
will look at my Balsams, Calceolarias, and Acroclineum roseum, 
these especially, with the generality of the plants, such friend or 
friends of The Cottage Gaedener, I think, will be tempted to 
try the experiment. 
I have also applied the same practice to a lean-to flower-stand 
out of doors. I may just state that Acroclineum is very fond of 
moisture. 
It is necessary to move the plants occasionally, because the 
roots like to have a peep into the sand.—S. Tatieesall. 
[The idea is a good on g^ jjfor common purposes, platforms of 
earth covered with sand are better than shelves in summer; they 
do not do so well for Geraniums and other soft-wooded plants in 
winter. A little clean, fresh moss placed on the shelves is also a 
good thing in summer; and also frequent sprinkling of the floors 
and pathways.] 
