poudrette en · NOUN
Etymology
Borrowed from French poudrette.
Meanings
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(archaic, countable, uncountable) A solid powdered agricultural manure prepared by composting human feces (night soil from outhouses and dry closets) by mixing it with various other ingredients (e.g., ground gypsum, lime, ashes) and then aging and drying the result.
The City Bureau of Health reports about sixty poudrette pits within the city limits, of which number approximately fifty are in South Philadelphia, the others being widely scattered over the north and northwestern sections of the city. Some farms have one pit, others two and three, while still others have none. Several of the pits are owned by the nightsoilers themselves who sell the composted material to various stores for retail trade.
1915, Eighth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Health for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1913, Part II, William Stanley Ray, State Printer, page 1253:Mr. Edward Condict, of Morristown, New Jersey, under date July 25th, 1842, says:— SIR,—In reply to your circular of the 20th inst., asking information relative to the effects of poudrette on crops during the years 1841 and 1842, I would state, that in the year 1841, I planted a field of corn, on about one-third part of which, I used the poudrette, putting a small handful, say somewhat less than a gill in each hill. The other part of the field I manured with good barnyard manure, a shovel full in each hill; the corn was planted about the 10th of May, and by the 20th of June, when the corn was dressed out the second time, that part where the poudrette was used, was more than as large again as the corn on the other part of the field; it also ripened a week or ten days earlier than the other; there was no perceptible difference in the yield. I also used it with good effect on buckwheat, potatoes and turnips, particularly the latter. In order to ascertain its effect on turnips, I sowed a strip in the middle of the piece, mixing the turnip seed and poudrette together, and sowing it broadcast, the effect was very perceptible, the turnips were larger and fairer, and were not disturbed by grasshoppers or any other insect. The soil on which the above mentioned crops grew, was light and somewhat inclined to sand, or gravel.
1843 April 15, Edward Condict, quotee, “Poudrette as a Manure”, in The Farmers' Cabinet, and American Herd-Book, Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and Rural and Domestic Affairs, volume 7, number 9 (99), page 288:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| poudrettes | Number=Plur | lexicographic |