The yearly decrease of productive power in the
older grain regions of the West, and the increasing demand for manures
in the Atlantic States, sufficiently prove that our own country is no
exception to the rule that has established its sway over Europe.
"The large class who will fail to feel the force of the agricultural
reasons in favor of the reform which this pamphlet is written to uphold,
will realize, more clearly than farmers will, the importance of
protecting dwellings against the gravest annoyance, the most fertile
source of disease, and the most certain vehicle of contagion."
Nevertheless, Mr. Waring thinks that the agricultural argument is no
mean or unimportant one, and says:
"The importance of any plan by which the excrement of our bodies may
be returned to our fields is in a measure shown in the following extract
from an article that I furnished for the _American Agricultural Annual_
for 1868.
"The average population of New York City--including its temporary
visitors--is probably not less than 1,000,000. This population consumes
food equivalent to at least 30,000,000 bushels of corn in a year.
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