180 APPLICATION' OF TOWN SEWAGE IN AGEICULTURE. 



there is a small outburst of the millstone grit, and also a por- 

 tion of the limestone formation, on both of which the soil is a 

 fertile clay, suitable for growing fine nutritious crops of hay. 

 A large dyke or throw in the strata brings in the coal measures, 

 and on the other side of this dyke the soil undergoes a complete 

 change to a thin bare clay. The lands have a northern and 

 western exposure, at an elevation rising from 500 to 630 feet 

 above sea-level, some of the fields having a gradual slope suit- 

 able for irrigation. 



As far back as the year 1862, I had a tank for collecting all 

 the urine of the steading, and a cart for taking the urine out to 

 the fields ; after two or three years' experience, however, I found 

 that all the benefit of the application was more than lost by the 

 horse and cart damaging the heavy land in the rainy winter 

 months. So the tank and the cart were abandoned, and the 

 rich dark urine found its w^ay to the nearest ditch, in the com- 

 pany of the drainage of the steading, grumbling, as I now think, 

 at the ^vasted life to which it was being condemned. 



I had included 2 lb. per acre of Timothy seed in my grass 

 mixtures for some years ; and having a field in green crop in 

 1870, I thought I would try the experiment of sowing 20 lb. 

 per acre on about an acre and a-half next the steading, and run 

 the urine and drainage of the steading upon it. I did not want 

 to incur expense till I saw how it might succeed, so it was 

 ploughed along with the rest of the field, the ridges having a 

 slight round on them, which made it not so suitable for irriga- 

 tion. The application was most successful, the strong vigorous 

 growth in the early spring, the early cut of grass for the dairy 

 stock, and two or three times a year, if it was required, made the 

 meadow so indispensable that it has been allowed to remain in 

 'the same state until now. On too many farms the drainage of 

 the steading is allowed to find its way into the nearest ditch, and 

 sometimes even to pollute the drinking water of the family or 

 the cattle; but if the urine, the water from the roofs, and the 

 waste water of every kind, were brought together into one out- 

 fall, and run upon the nearest field with a slope for irrigation, 

 farmers would be surprised how richly they would be rewarded. 



In the year 1875, the town of Carluke was formed into a 

 drainage district, and the only outfall for a small portion of the 

 district was the ditch in wdiich the urine and drainage from the 

 steading had been allowed to run to waste. At my request, the 

 local authority readily consented to lay the sewage pipes a 

 considerable distance into the field, in which the urine meadow 

 is placed. The quantity of sewage thus obtained is received 

 from a population of about 250. There are fifty houses, none of 

 which have more than three apartments, and there are no water 

 closets, the quality is therefore very weak and diluted ; but it 

 is sufficient to manure nearly three acres of meadow land, and 



