APPLICATION TO AGPvICULTURE. 131 



as will be seen by the unremunerative prices obtained. The rye- 

 grass commanded over £18 an acre, as will be seen, in 1875, but 

 the average of the series of years is under £11. This state of 

 matters was disappointing to the committee in charge of the farm 

 and to the manager, and it led them to start the dairy, which is 

 expected to yield nearly two-fifths of the whole receipts. The 

 average annual loss on the farm is about £270, and the cost of 

 pumping is rather in excess of that amount, so it is plain that 

 the farm would have paid its way if the sewage could have been 

 delivered by gravitation. The high rent charged, namely, £5, Is. 

 per acre, is complained of, but the additions which have now 

 been obtained, will reduce the average slightly. Considerably 

 more than one-third of the land was hired at double its value as 

 ordinary farming land. 



About 25 acres of the farm are employed for growing market 

 gardening crops, but it is a mistake to suppose that that 

 description of crops is specially adapted for sewage farms. Even 

 on the large Croyden farm, which consists of a light soil, near 

 the metropolis, only one acre in ten is cultivated with vegetables. 

 At Bedford there is always a considerable breadth of onions 

 grown, and, as will be noticed, they command an average of £31, 

 4s. per acre, which with one unimportant exception is more than 

 any other crop. Parsnips have been introduced for some years, 

 and they sell at a good round price. Of all crops, Italian rye- 

 grass is noted for its ample produce, and its rapid and early and 

 late growth ; in consequence of which it takes great floodings of 

 sewage after each cutting — generally four mowings in the 

 season, and it is generally down for two years. 



It will be observed from the table of cropping, that the prices 

 of the particular crops have been pretty uniform throughout the 

 whole series of years, and that the aggregate amount of money 

 obtained each year varies little. In 1881 the proceeds of the 

 crops were £2547, which is £403 more than was realised in 

 1879, which was a year of disaster in all descriptions of farming. 

 As in the balance sheets of most other sewage farms, there is no 

 annual instalment charged for the large original investment in 

 laying out the farm, or for farm buildings. 



Banhury Sewage Farm. 



This ancient borough and market town was a trading place in 

 olden days, but it has increased very little in the past twenty 

 yeai-s. It is beautifully situated in the vale of Cherwell, in 

 the north corner of Oxfordshire. The population in 1871 was 

 11,276, and at last census it was 12,127, which in both instances 

 included the adjoining hamlets, and the chief trades carried on 

 are the manufacture of steam engines and the Banbury reapers 

 and mowers. To avoid river pollution, it was conii>elled to 



