AGRICULTURE AND DENDROLOGY. 
19 
of wheat and soy beans even when the solution contained 
only 0.05 °/ 0 , and suspended the germinative power of some 
of the former seeds at 0.1 °/ 0 , of the latterat 0.05 °/ 0 . In 
field experiments with barley, which was sown in the 
Japanese fashion upon the night-soil, after spreading and 
allowing the latter to be sucked up by the soil, a content 
of the diluted excreta of 0.25°/o°f carbolic acid, essen¬ 
tially retarded the germination, while 1 °/ 0 of the disinfec¬ 
tant killed the seeds entirely. If rain is allowed to act on 
the dung before sowing, the carbolic acid is washed away 
and does no more harm even after a strong admixture of 
the drug, but as already mentioned, the valuable urea is 
likewise carried away. When given as a top-manure, in 
which case the excreta are also usually diluted, a young 
wheat crop of a height of 10 centimeters was entirely des-, 
troyed at an admixture of 2 °/ 0 of carbolic acid, while at 
later periods of growth even 3 °/ 0 solutions were still harm¬ 
less, provided, of course, that the night-soil was not poured 
directly upon the plants, but into a furrow along the lines 
of the drilled crop. Hence we recommend the application 
of the excreta mixed with carbolic acid only as a top- 
manure in a well diluted state and for not too young crops. 
Ferrous sulphate 1) , which is sometimes mixed with the 
night-soil has only weak disinfective properties, and chiefly 
serves as a deodorizer. Within the ordinary limits of the 
quantities applied, it does not interfere with the growth of 
crops, as even the high proportion of 30 grms. of the crys¬ 
tallized salt per liter of dilated night-soil did not exert any 
injurious influence on the germination and further develop¬ 
ment of barley. In agricultural practice too, no fatal effects 
of ferrous sulphate when mixed with excreta seem to have 
been observed. 
1) A treatise on the influences of ferrous compounds on vegetation 
by the author will be found in “ Landw. Versuchest.” vol. 32, 1886, p. 365. 
