262 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Purchase, from the authorities of Paris, of a cubic s. d. 



yard of sewage, solid or liquid lO^d. 



Carriage by canal boat 2^ 



Taking it from the barge, and distributing it on the 



laud by portable steam-engine of 6-horse power 6 



1 7 



The contract with the city of Paris was for 11,000 cubic yards 

 of sewaoe per annum ; but experience has shown that this is 

 an over-dose, and that the land cannot bear above half the 

 quantity, or 25 cubic yards per acre. They appear to want 

 our ateam-plough, which would give deeper cultivation, and 

 mix the manure with the poor subsoil. The report justly 

 states that steam-power aud subterranean pipe distribution 

 were infinitely cheaper than the old plan which they first used, 

 of manual pumpins; and water-cart distribution. This I can 

 confirm by my own practice, as I could distribute the above 

 quantity of 178 gallons on any part of my farm for one penny. 

 They appear to get their sewage, undiluted, from tanks or 

 cesspools iu Paris, and find that its application in dry weather 

 in that state is injurious, that it requires diluting with water, 

 which the canal company will not permit them to abstract 

 from the canal. Applied iu wet weather it answers admira- 

 bly. If a cubic yard of urine and excreta is worth lOg^d. in 

 Paris^ what should our London sewage produce ? I value it 

 at one million annually. It must not be forgotten that in 

 Flanders and Switzerland human excreta is applied, diluted, 

 to the soil by the clumsiy and costly process of manual labour. 

 Surely, if, even oa these conditions, it answers the purpose 

 where produce is cheap, it cauHot fail to pay us here, where 

 mighty steam would reduce the cost of its application to one- 

 fifth, or less. The French report ought to be translated into 

 English, it contains so much valuable information. It is from 

 Monsieur L. Moll, the " Gerant," Monsieur Mille, civil engi- 

 neer, and Monsieur Vilmorin ca behalf of the Council of 

 Management, and extends over 83 pages ; it is published by 

 Firmin Didot and Co., booksellers, Paris. Messrs. Mille aud 

 Moll had visited our sewage works and irrigated farms in 

 various parts of this kingdom, their remarks on which are 

 embodied m the report. Their report of the Vaujours farm 

 may be summed up as follows : — That the tenants' capital 

 invested is about £6,500, of which £1,800 is for the sewage 

 operation, the remainder for drainage, live stock, implements, 

 buildings, &e. Its returns show a loss of £370, besides 

 interest on capital. That this loss arcae from a«umber of 

 unforeseen circumstances, and from the difficulty of organizing 

 a new system for which there was no exact precedent. One 

 principal cause of loss was the over-luxuriance of some por- 

 tions of this once poor soil, the manure having been too abun- 

 dantly applied. Another was the want of sufficient water for 

 dilution. Another the want of experience as to the best rota- 

 tion of crops, and the most suitable mode of consuming them, 

 or otherwise turning them to account. There were also many 

 engineering difficulties and experiments. The absence of good 

 roads, and the use, in the first instance, of the water-cart aud 

 manual labour instead of steam. The rabbits from the adjoin- 

 ing forest did much damage; the labourers were dear and 

 ineffective. There also appear to me to be some defects in the 

 practical farming management ; but we know that it takes 

 several years to get into profitable condition a poor neglected 

 farm like this of Vaujours, and the company have only held it 

 two years, the tubular system being completed recentlj'. On 

 the whole, however, a very satisfactory result was ultimately 

 calculated upon, the system of using the sewage having spread 

 rapidly in the neighbourhood. London has an immense 

 advantage over Paris in its powers of economically distributing 

 the sewage, owing to our ample water supply, which does not 

 exist in Paris. Our sewage could by this means be so much 

 raore cheaply conveyed and distributed, penetrating deeply 

 into the subsoil. Our coal, iron, and machinery is also greatly 

 in favour of London over Paris, by its cheaper price. In 

 comparison with my own farm, the distributing apparatus has 

 been far raore costly. In my own case, engine, tanks, con- 

 duits, or iron-pipes, tubing, jet, pumps, &c., covuiilete for 

 workiug, ouly cost on 170 acres about £700, or £i 5s. per 

 acre. On the Vaujours farm the cost is set down at £1,800 

 on 220 acres, or more than £8 per acre. The purt'iase of a 

 manure barge and the construction of wharfing ha? added 

 considerably to the cost of the operation. Not h iving the 

 map of the farm of Vaujours, I cannot know its particulp' 

 form, but the length of tube per acre appears to be the same 



as mine. On my farm I have 15 yards of iron subterranean 

 pipe for each acre, the total quantity used on 170 acres being 

 55 tons, at a cost per ton of £4 18s., including cartage and 

 freight. My iron piping is 3 inches in diameter, and I am 

 told is much stronger than that at Vaujours, which is only of 

 sheet iron dipped in bitumen, and will, I fear, soon be 

 destroyed by pressure, or the action of the manure. The 

 French subterranean tubing cost £3 5s, per acre : mine only 

 coat £1 ISs. per acre. 



Comfort andProfitfor the British Farmer. — Hear whatBaron 

 Liebig (that profound philosopher) says ia the introduction to 

 his first work on modern agriculture ; also at page 267 of his 

 recent work on modern farming : — " Perfect agriculture is the 

 true foundation of all trade and industry ; it is the foundation 

 of the riches of States. But a rational system of agriculture 

 cannot be formed without the application of scientific princi- 

 ples ; for such a system mast be based on an exact acquaint- 

 ance with the means of nutrition of vegetables, and with the 

 influence of soils and actions of manure upon them. This 

 knowledge we must seek from chemistry, which teaches the 

 mode of investigating the composition and of studying the 

 characters of the different substances from which plants derive 

 their nourishment. * * * Whatever practical agriculturists 

 and agricultural eocieties may do, whatever they may resolve 

 at their annual meetings, every penny spent will be thrown 

 away, and every year of experimenting will be in vain, so long 

 as these practical men will not submit to theteachiogs of true 

 experience, to the rules of logic or of common sense; from 

 the instant they shall so submit, science will be theirs. There 

 exists a receipt for insuring the fertility of our fields and the 

 permanence of their crops, and which, if properly and con- 

 sistently applied, will prove more remimerative than all the 

 expedients that have ever been resorted to by agriculturists. 

 It consist? in the following rule : — Every farmer who takes a 

 sack of corn, or a cwt. of rape, turnips, potatoes, &c., to the 

 towu, ought, like the Chinese coolie, to carry back with him 

 from the town an equal (or, if possible, a larger) quantity of 

 the mineral coustitm nts of the produce sold, and restore them 

 to the field from which they have been taken. He should not 

 despise the peel of a potato, nor a straw, but always bear fe 

 mind that that peel may be wanting to form one of his pota- 

 toes ; that straw to form oue of his ears of corn. The cost 

 of carrying these matters to his fields is trifling, and the 

 investment is as safe as a savings' bank, aud highly productive 

 withal. The fertile area of his field will, in the course of ten 

 years, be as it were doubled ; he will produce more corn, more 

 flesh, and more cheese, without haviug, on that account, to 

 bestow greater labour and time upon the cultivation of his 

 land ; he will be less anxious about his fields, and need no 

 longer keep his mind constantly on the stretch for some new, 

 unknown, and imaginary expedient to preserve their fertility 

 in some other way." 



Conclusion. — For many years I have laboured to impress 

 upon the public miud the importance of this great question. 

 Three years ago I had the honour to read to you a paper on 

 this subject ; I have now again endeavoured to awaken agri- 

 culture from its lethargy and disbelief. I want to convince 

 you that there are cheaper and more available sources of 

 manure than those you now resort to. You are keen enough 

 at a bargain, and rigid economists but this important subject 

 you have evidently not investigated. You don't know, because 

 you have not sought for, the engineering and chemical statis- 

 tics that would enable you to come to a right conclusion 

 oa this subject. Others have done 'SO for you. Avail 

 therefore, of the opportunity which they have presented to 

 you— discuss the question — sift it thoroughly — but do not let 

 it rest until you have come to a satisfactory conclusion. 

 British invention, enterprise, and capital, have done great 

 things for this happy country. Science has opened to us the 

 flood-gates of progress, wealth, and population — welcome her 

 in agriculture — seek her aid — tempt her to your assistance — 

 believe in her powers — and avail of them — and so raise and 

 dignify your calling, that it shall fructify in intelligence and 

 profit, for your own welfare, and for the good and honour of 

 this great nation. 



Mr. Sidney (Kensington) having carefully prepared 

 himself for the occasion, he had come forward for thepur- 

 pose of showing that this sewage question, which had 

 been continually agitated for the last sixteen years, and 

 in the discussion of which he had himself for six years 



