SEWAGE SYSTEM OF BOSTON. 187 



come very troublesome. The city flats are exposed to the 

 sun at low tide ; and they are a great nuisance, owing to the 

 deposits of the sewers upon them ; and the city has been 

 obliged to provide another drain, which is to carry all the 

 collected sewage of Boston down to Moon Island, six miles 

 below the wharves, at the south side of the harbor, where it 

 is to be discharged into deep water, at great expense. It 

 will be years before this new system can be fully carried out ; 

 but, when it is, there will be no trouble. This may seem an 

 enormous waste, and undoubtedly it is ; but the question is, 

 whether, with the habits of our people, we can do any better. 

 Can we devise any plan by which this waste can be avoided ? 

 The engineers who have had tliis matter in charge do not 

 think it can be done. They do not think we can produce 

 such a change in the habits of our people, that this refuse 

 matter can be made available, and put into practicable shape. 

 There is a great deal of valuable material in our sewers ; but 

 it is so diluted with water, that the expense of moving it to 

 the country to use it for the purpose of irrigation would be 

 very large, and it is thought that that plan would not be 

 practicable. A commission was recently appointed in Boston 

 to investigate this subject, consisting of two engineers, both 

 very able men ; and they went into the matter very deeply, 

 and took pains to investigate the disposition that is made of 

 sewage in England, France, Belgium, and other countries. 

 They found, that, in a large majority of cases where irriga- 

 tion with sewage had been attempted, it was not profitable ; 

 that the money expended did not reap any interest ; that the 

 farms were improved, but they were improved at an expense 

 that was not warranted by the result. There are some ex- 

 ceptions to this, however, as was mentioned in the lecture. 

 The neighborhood of Edinburgh has been benefited in a 

 money point of view ; but the effect there is bad. There are 

 one or two cases where the land is so situated as to receive 

 the contents of the cesspools without pumping, so that the 

 expense of raising this vast bulk of water is not required ; 

 and, in these cases, the use of this material for irrigation has 

 proved profitable. The only practicable way of getting at 

 the trouble seems to be to carry the sewage out a sufficient 

 distance by a pipe, where it will not be any great trouble. 

 The matter of the use of artificial fertilizers has been 



