India in 1887 as seen by Robert Wallace / [Robert Wallace].

  • Robert Wallace
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: India in 1887 as seen by Robert Wallace / [Robert Wallace]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CHAPTER V.—DUNG. Fuel Manure—Fermentation of Manure—Rothamsted Experiments—Uses of Dung peculiar to India—Storing—Excuse for Carelessness—Nitrifi- cation—C onclusion. Dung. Jh'UEL.—The dung of cattle is, when dried, the most important fuel used by the native population in India. It is plastered, while fresh and yet moist, against the wall of a house or the trunk of a tree, and left to dry ; or it may be mixed with refuse straw to hold it together, and formed into thin and rounded slabs of about 9 inches broad and between 1 and 2 inches thick, and set up to bake hard in the sun. These may be seen in large quantities carried on the head to market by the female population in districts near large towns. As fuel, dung does not throw out sparks like dry burning wood to endanger the safety of the house, and it has, in addition, the valuable property of remaining in a smouldering condition for a long time, enabling the inmates of the house to leave the food to cook while they are at work in the fields. While burning, there is no offensive smell noticeable. I remarked the wonderful difference in this respect as compared with my yet vivid recollection of the overpowering and offensive odour exhaling from the cow-dung fuel of the Mennonite villagers in Manitoba, which I had visited about eight years before. The more perfect method of drying must have had much influence in determining its character in this respect, and also in improving its value as a fuel. It is not unusual