90 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



calculations well accord with the practice of the owners 

 of the great sewage-irrigated meads of Clipstone 

 in Nottinghamshire, of Edinburgh, and of Milan, 

 only lately reported upon by her Majesty's Com- 

 missioners, Messrs. Austin, Way, and Southwood 

 Smith. In all these cases, large quantities of 

 sewage are employed. These Commissioners, 

 when reporting upon the irrigated meads of Milan, 

 so celebrated for their productiveness, tell us that 

 they found that the river Vettabbia, which conveys 

 the liquid refuse from the city of Milan, is made to 

 ramify, and serve for the irrigation of about 4,000 

 acres of land ; and that the depth of water conveyed 

 on to the land, calculated over the whole area, is 

 about 8 feet per acre per annum, conveying to each 

 acre the liquid refuse of about 40 persons : but 

 then it must be observed that much of the water is 

 used over and over again successively, on lands at 

 lower levels. 



We see, then, that the quantity of water annually 

 applied by the Milanese irrigators is about equal to 

 9,600 tons per acre. The Italian farmers turn on 

 the water, duiing the summer months, for G to 10 

 hours every week; but on some of their meads, 

 which are then called " marcite," the water is, 

 during the winter, constantly kept flowing over the 

 grass, in a thin film. The produce of some of these 

 meadows is given by the reporters. On the farm 

 of Dr. Chiappa (of 580 acres), between 3 and 4 

 miles from Milan, about 80 acres are " marcite." 



These support entirely, during the year, 100 stall- 

 fed cows. Six crops of grass are cut during the 

 year — viz., in — 



February, 800 kilogrammes per pertica 



April, 800 „ „ 



June, 600 ,, „ 



August, 600 ,, „ 



October, 400 „ „ 



December, 400 ,, „ 



Or, annually, about 22 tons of grass per acre. 

 Hay, it seems, is here made in June and August, 

 and sometimes in October. The cattle have hay 

 only during about 40 days in the year ; at all other 

 times they are fed upon fresh grass. No manure 

 whatever is applied to meads, except the foul irri- 

 gating waters. 



It seems evident, then, that the application of 

 sewage to land is best accomplished by using it 

 for irrigation ; and if so, then it appears very de- 

 sirable for this purpose that, in all engineering 

 arrangements where it is necessary to raise the 

 sewage by mechanical means into main sewers, a 

 reasonably high level should be selected for those 

 great culverts. It is hardly necessary to say why 

 a high level is preferable, since it is evident that it 

 is only from its flowing at such elevations, that the 

 owners of the land near which it passes towards its 

 outlet can use the sewage (flowing by its own 

 gravity) in sufficiently copious quantities for the 

 valuable purposes of irrigation.] 



MR. RAREY'S SYSTEM OF HORSE-TAMING. 



It ssems that Mr. Rarey's secret was no secret, 

 as far as our cousins at the other side of the 

 Atlantic were concerned, as he published in 1856, 

 in America, a work on the subject, which, from the 

 evidence of some of his pupils, seems to contain 

 all the information which he has communicated to 

 his two or three thousand subscribers, to the tune 

 of £10 10s. each. Some of them seem much annoyed 

 at the position in which they are placed, having 

 signed a bond not to reveal the secret under a 

 penalty of £500, while they find the whole can be 

 now had in a pamphlet for sixpence. At one of 

 Mr. Rarey's lectures, lately given, it is reported 

 that Mr. Leslie complained, "in a manner not 

 altogether gracious or respectful, that, although he 

 had paid 10 guineas to learn Mr. Rarey's system, 

 and had entered into a bond of £500 not to betray 

 the secret, he yet found that a pamphlet had been 

 published for sixpence, which purported to be 

 written by Mr. Rarey, and to contain the same in- 

 formation as that which he communicated in his 

 lectures. He wished to know, under the circum- 



stances, what part of the secret it was which he 

 was required to conceal ? and whether the sub- 

 scribers were to be placed in a worse position, in 

 regard to divulging the mysteries of the system, 

 than the public who read the pamjjhlet?" Mr. 

 Rarey admitted *he fact that " the pamphlet was a 

 reprint of one which he had published in America 

 some years ago, and against the piracy of which, 

 as there was no international copyright, he could 

 obtain no protection." " The pamphlet, he re- 

 marked, " could not be said to contain the details of 

 his system, as now perfected by long subsequent 

 experience and observation." Mr. Leslie, evi- 

 dently not satisfied with his position, thus wrote to 

 the Editor of the ^lorninxj Post : 



"Sir, — Being one of Mr. Rarey's pupils, and 

 the person who commenced the remarks to-day at 

 the Kinnerton Round House, on the subject of the 

 bond to secresy of £500 entered into individually 

 by all subscribers, I feel at liberty to recommend 

 subscribers to look into their position as regards 



