MODEBK IDEAS OF SAKITAK? ECONOMY. 



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of irrigating, when such a mode of fertilizing does become 

 advisable. 



But would it not be expensive to have separate drains for 

 removing the water in question from fbvvns ? The amount 

 which might be calculated on is surely not more than a gallon 

 a day for each inhabitant ; but let us give two for 400,000 

 persons, or two and a half gallons, if it is wanted, making the 

 whole 1,000,000 gallons. This quantity might be passed 

 through by small pipes like private sewers, and at the very 

 largest opening it would be but a very small pipe. But 

 supposing the half were to be run off in three hours, which 

 is a very probable occurrence, this is not a twentieth of the 

 capacity of some of the water pipes. It is therefore by no 

 means an enormous scheme. 



The value of the substance detained cannot be disputed ; 

 we may fairly reckon it as capable of manuring land sufficient 

 to feed all Manchester. This would seem to be the true 

 quantity to be calculated on. It is not easy to say how much 

 land is wanted to feed a man who eats beef and flour, but let 

 it be only half an acre, we have 200,000 acres capable of 

 being manured. I might fairly from this launch out into a 

 very brilliant calculation, but it may lie at present. The plan 

 might be carried out on low lands, of which there are man^ 

 about Manchester, and that great expense of pumping, of 

 water pressure also, and all its consequences, be saved. The 

 liquid might be taken to a small reservoir outside'the town, and 

 distributed over the low grounds ; if wanted, pumped up from 

 that reservoir to higher grounds. But to pump by enormous 

 power the weak solution of our present sewers through pipes, 

 which are in fact a new water-works of a reversed kind, seems 

 to be utterly hopeless of good. 



As to the nuisance of having a reservoir of water of that 

 kind near the town, it is better to have it of the smaller size, 

 with the more concentrated material ; it affects fewer persons, 

 and it might be covered easily. It is also better thqn hayiqg 



