IMPROVE- MENTS IN PREPARING MANURE AND IN THE CULTIVATION OF LAND
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARCHIBALD
RICHARD FRANCIS ROSSER, of New Boswell Court, in, the County of Middlesex,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Second day of August, in the first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Archibald
Richard Francis Rosser, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege, and
authority, that I, the said Archibald Richard Francis Rosser, ny exors,
adiiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Archibald Richard Francis
Rosser, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at, all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREPARING MANURE AND IN THE CULTIVATION OF LAND," communicated
to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, that I, the said Archibald Richard Francis Rosser, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Archibald Richard Francis Rosser, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion, as communicated to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad, is
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that
is to say)-
The Invention relates to a mode of reducing into manure and applying the
same to the cultivating and fertilizing of land, whereby land may be dressed,
cultivated, and manured with. greater, advantage than has, heretofore been
practised, not. only.. broom,..heather, furze, rushes, and other vegetables not
hitherto used for making manure as being deemed too difficult of decomposi-
tion, but also vegetables and weeds, such, for instance, as couch-grass, which it
has hitherto been considered dangerous to introduce into manure, and the
The
vegetating powers of which are..by the Invention totally destroyed.
principle object effected by the Invention is the production of a rapid fermen-
tation, the degree of which may be regulated nearly at pleasure, whereby the
substances to be converted. into manure are speedily and uniformly decomposed.
The Inventor found it very convenient and effectual, for facilitating the
conversion of substances into manure, to prepare a liquid beforehand, which he
called eau a saturer, and which I will call saturating water. This saturating
water may be conveniently prepared thus form a tank or a water-tight pit,
proportioned to the dimensions of twelve feet long by six feet 'broad, and six
feet deep; fill the tank to the extent of half its depth with water; throw in
such herbaceous or even woody plants as may be within reach, taking
care to make use in preference of. 'those containing the most of unctuous
and mucilaginous parts. With these plants and the water the tank is to be
'filled up to the extent of three fourths of its depth; add of the nearest
earth or soil sufficient to leave only one foot in depth of the tank unoccupied,
then put in ten pounds of unslacked lime and five ounces of sal ammoniac. The
tank may, afterwards be filled and, kept full with kitchen water or any
sweepings, dead animals, spoiled provisions, and, filth from the dwelling-house.
The contents of, the tank should be stirred together from time to time. Should
much unpleasant, odour .be evolved or insects be produced, more unslacked
lime should occasionally be added... The next thing to be done is to prepare a
smaller water-tight vessel, tank, or pit, into, which are to be thrown a sufficient
quantity of the saturating water to dissolve or mix the ingredients after-men.
tioned; or if there is no saturating, water, prepared, water as impure and putrid
from animal and vegetable substances as can be conveniently procured. The
inventor calls this water mixed with the matters next mentioned a "lessive."
By the words fecal matters or fecal substances hereafter used, I mean humar

page_text: ordure. About one hundred and thirty gallons of the "lessive" may be
prepared for the conversion of one thousand pounds of straw or two thousand
pounds of green woody fibrous vegetable substances into four thousand pounds
of manure. The lessive with the sufficient quantity of saturating water or
impure water before mentioned, may be composed of the substances following,
and in about the following proportions, that is to say :-Two hundred pounds
of fecal substances and urine, (the greater the proportion of fecal matter the
better); fifty pounds of chimney soot; four hundred. pounds of powdered
gypsum; sixty pounds. of unslacked lime; twenty pounds of wood ashes not
lixiviated; one pound.of sea salt; ten ounces. of refined saltpetre; and fifty
pounds of what the inventor calls "levain d'engrais," and I call "leaven of
manure," being the last drainings from a preceding operation where there has
been one.
The saturating water is to be. well stirred till it is thick, and a
portion of it is to be immediately poured into the lessive tank into which are to
be thrown the lime, the soot, then the ashes, then. the fecal matters, the salt,
and afterwards the saltpetre. The gypsum is to be thrown in powdered, little.
by little, always stirring. the mixture-lest it should cake; when the whole is well
mixed by stirring, the leaven of manure is to be added. Although I have
mentioned various primary or preferable substances for the composition of.
the lessive, yet, where these cannot be used with due regard to economy, sub-.
stitutes may be employed. For the fecal substances and. urine, two hundred and
fifty pounds of the dung of horses, oxen,,cows, or pigs, or one hundred pounds
of the dung of sheep or goats; for the chimney soot, one hundred pounds of
burnt, baked, or roasted carth; for the gypsum the same weight. of river mud,.
hill side. mud, sea mud, fat earth. from woods or forests,.marl or dust, or mud
of the high road; for the wood ashes, not lixiviated, fifty pounds of wood ashes,
lixiviated, or two pounds of potass; for the sea salt, one hundred pounds of sea.
water; for. the refined saltpetre, any quantity of rough saltpetre or common:
saltpetre, or mother water of saltpetre containing ten ounces of pure salt-
petre. Whenever the quantity of lessive fails for a making, or runs short, it.
is to be made up with the saturating water, and that again with water, always
using the most impure and putrid from animal and vegetable matters that can
be obtained. In the place where the substances to be converted into manure
are to be heaped for that purpose, the surface of the ground is to be rendered.
impervious to liquids by beating, paving, or otherwise, in such a manner as
that the liquids running from the heap may flow unabsorbed into pits or
reservoirs placed or constructed at a lower level. For making the heap.
straw may be used; whole furze, broom, and other woody stalks may with good
effect be cut into lengths of from six to eight inches, or bruised, that they may

page_text: pack the closer and retain the lessive the better. It is very advantageous .to
throw the vegetable substances to be reduced into manure into a vessel, tank, or
pit containing a quantity of the lessive, the lessive having been previously made
as muddy as possible by stirring. The substances are to be trodden or beaten
among the lessive, and as fast as they are well soaked and sluiced all over they
are to be thrown upon the heap. The heap may be conveniently made seven.
feet high, and upon every layer of a foot deep there should be thrown in a
drenching of the lessive, first stirring it well. When the heap is raised to its
full height the muddy sediment of the lessive (which has not been stirred up,
into, the liquid) is to be spread equally over the top surface of the heap. The
top of the heap should then be covered with straw, old planks, branches, or
herbage, or any other suitable matters. While the heap is making it.should be.
beaten or trodden down so as to make the substances of which it is composed.
lie close and compact, and when it is finished it should be beaten all round
with the same view. At the end of forty-eight hours from the completion.
of the heap a fermentation of from fifteen to twenty degrees of heat by.
Reaumur's scale has been found to have taken place, and on the following.
day it has generally, attained. from thirty to forty degrees of Reaumur. On:
the third day the top of the heap is to be opened to six inches deep with a
fork, and the sediment thrown on the top is to be turned over and another
good drenching with the. lessive is to be applied to the heap, which is again to
be immediately covered up. About the seventh day holes, about six inches
distance from each other, are to be made with a fork to the depth of three
fect, and another drenching is to be applied, the heap being afterwards covered:
up again. About the ninth day another drenching is to be applied through
new and somewhat deeper holes, and the heap is to be again covered up..
After the lapse of from twelve to fifteen days; from the making of the heap the:
manure will be fit. to spread. The fermentation is stopped by an excessive
drenching or by opening out the heap.. If the materials of the heap are straw.
only, the fermentation may be stopped at fifty-five degrees of heat, otherwise it
may be allowed to proceed to seventy-five degrees. All the drainings should:
be carefully collected and used over and over again for the drenchings, and the
residue should be preserved. for subsequent makings.. In all processes. of:
fermentation it necessarily happens that variations of heat and time take place:
according to the temperature of the atmosphere and the materials acted upon,
and other causes, and it is advisable, not to make the heap in very cold weather.:
But the inventor found that the process here laid down was the best for
suitable fermentation, which, after numerous: experiments made during many
years, he could devise... The experienced farmer: will, in the composition of his

page_text: lessive, have regard to the nature of the soil to which the manure is
to be applied, and put into the lessive more or less of lime, or the alkalies
for instance, according as the soil is of a warmer or colder nature. The Inven-
tion consists in the composition of the lessive and the process of repeatedly
using the lessive for producing fermentation, which may be regulated nearly at
pleasure, although the proportions of the materials composing the lessive may
be reasonably varied, and although such variation may in some degree retard
the required decomposition of the heap.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Richard Francis Rosser, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.