y to cart away the drainage, it is
obviously to our interest to prevent, as far as possible, any of the
liquid from running to waste.

It is of still greater importance to guard against any loss of urine. It
will be seen that, on the average, a ton of the urine of our domestic
animals contains more than twice as much nitrogen as a ton of the dung.

Where straw, leaves, swamp-muck, or other absorbent materials are not
sufficiently abundant to prevent any loss of urine, means should be used
to drain it into a tank so located that the liquid can either be pumped
back on to the manure when needed, or drawn away to the land.

"I do not see," said the Deacon, "why horse and sheep-urine should
contain so much more nitrogen and potash than that from the cow and
pig."

"The figures given by Prof. Wolff," said I, "are general averages. The
composition of the urine varies greatly. The richer the food in
digestible nitrogenous matter, the more nitrogen will there be in the
dry matter of the urine. And, other things being equal, the less water
the animal drinks, the richer will the urine be in nitrogen. The urine
from a sheep fed solely on turnips would contain little or no more
nitrogen than the urine of a cow fed on turnips. An ox or a dry cow fed
on grass would probably void no more nor no poorer urine than a horse
fed on grass. The urine that Mr. Lawes drew out in a cart on to his
grass-land was made by sheep that had one lb. each of oil-cake per day,
and one lb. of chaffed clover-hay, and all the turnips they would eat.
They voided a large quantity of urine, but as the food was rich in
nitrogen, the urine was doubtless nearly or quite as rich as that
analyzed by Prof. Wolff, though that probably contained less water."

If I was going to draw out liquid manure, I should be very careful to
spout all the buildings, and keep the animals and manure as much under
cover as possible, and also feed food rich in nitrogen. In such
circumstances, it would doubtless pay to draw the urine full as well as
to draw the solid manure.

NIGHTSOIL AND SEWAGE.

The composition of human excrements, as compared with the mean
composition of the excrements from horses, cows, sheep, and swine, so
far as the nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash are concerned, is as
follows:

Table Showing the Amount of Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, and Potash,
in One Ton of Fresh Human Excrements, and in One Ton of Fresh
Excrements From Horses, Cows, Sheep