276 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



examining the different experiments that have been made 

 with regard to the utilization of sewage and getting it so 

 that it shall not be a cause of disease in the community. In 

 considering the matter of the care of sewage, there are two 

 considerations. The first one, of course, is the sanitary con- 

 sideration — the damage to life and health which results from 

 the way in which sewage is cared for, or rather left uncared 

 for, at present ; the other is the actual money loss to the com- 

 munity. We know how carefully sewage-material is saved 

 and is prepared in China for use on the land. The fertility 

 of their lands is "maintained almost entirely by the application 

 of this waste material — the dejections from the population. 

 Various experiments have been tried and are being tried with 

 regard to the use of sewage for irrigation. In the neighbor- 

 hood of Edinburgh, there are extensive fields which are irri- 

 gated in that way by the city's sewage ; it has also been tried 

 in the neighborhood of Berlin, and in other places. 



I have recently read a discussion upon this same matter be- 

 fore a society of German investigators, and it seemed to be the 

 general sense of the meeting that those experiments were not 

 .encouraging. Experiments are being tried, and with appa- 

 rent success, in certain places, by treating sewage chemically. 

 The city sewers carry into the streams only what is called 

 storm-water, or water that falls in atmospheric showers, and 

 the water from the kitchen sink, the kitchen slops, and the 

 rest, is passed into cisterns which are regularly pumped out 

 and the contents carried to a central station, and there, 

 by chemical agents, they are precipitated as far as may be ; 

 that precipitate is prepared to a certain extent and sold 

 as poudrette. The liquid is put into a large distilling appa- 

 ratus and sulphate of ammonia is prepared from that, and 

 then the rest of the material, the fluid, which has been ren- 

 dered comparatively innocuous, is run off. But in our large 

 cities, in the ordinary way of handling sewage, that would 

 not work. It seems to me if we could only all of us be farm- 

 ers and go back on the land, returning to the old Levitical 

 . administration,, the diflficulty would be remedied. There has 



