18 



EEPORT ON THE APPLICATION OF SEWAGE. 



GRASS CONSUMED AND MILK YIELDED BY 20 COWS IN 24 



WEEKS. 



1863. 



No. of 

 Cows. 



5. 



5. 

 10. 



All the 

 20. 



Kind of Food. 



Weight of Fc d 



eaten in twenty-four 



weeks. 



Natural 



Grass with- 

 out Sewage. 

 Italian Rye 

 Grass. 

 Natural 

 Grass 

 Se waged. 

 Total. . . 

 Cake for the 

 last eleven 

 weeks. 



I'liS. (Jwt. CJrs. XiLS 



37 17 2 9-J 

 50 17 21 



119 3 1 104 



207 18 13 



Milk yielded 

 iu twenty-four 

 weeks. 



Gallons. 



2424 



24G7i 



941 G 



I might very largely extend such tabulated statistics of the 

 consumption of Sewaged grass by my cows, and the quantity 

 and quality of the milk yielded by them, but it would be per- 

 haps travelling a little beyond the scope of this report, and in- 

 deed it is the less necessary for public information that the third 

 Report of the Royal Sewage Commissioners just issued, con- 

 tains a series of most elaborate and accurate tables on the sub- 

 ject, taken from my own farm. I would, in conclusion, draw 

 attention to the great difference in the results of Sewage appli- 

 cation which arises from atmospheric conditions. In such 

 seasons as 1863 and 1864, when the rainfall was much below 

 the average, the Sewage was deficient in quantity, but above the 

 average quality, whereas in 1860 and 1862, the very reverse was 

 the case. Now this has a most important bearing upon the 

 question of the application of Sewage to the arable crops of the 

 farm, so strongly advocated by such a high authority as Baron 

 Liebeg. It so happens that the only accurate experiments made 

 by me on such crops, the details of which I have already given, 

 were made in unusually dry years, so that of course a higher 

 value appears to be due to the Sewage from increased crops, 

 than it would be justly entitled to on an average of years. 

 Further experiments are very desirable in this direction, but 

 enough has been done to prove that the application of small 

 quantities in dry seasons may be very beneficial, indeed the 

 small applications seem to have proved better than the larger 

 ones. It should also be noted that with large application of 

 Sewage, the grain decreases in weight per bushel, whereas the 

 light or offal grain is largely increased, and also the quantity of 



