THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



291 



the iuhabitants, directed tbe opening into that sewer on the 

 south side of the Albany-road to he closed, without making 

 any. other arrangement for carrying off the sewage. By this 

 piece of official stupidity, the current was turned back to find 

 its way half the length of the Albany-road, where it crossed 

 underneath, to form a junction with the ditch on the south 

 side. But as liquid iu no case can be persuaded to run up- 

 hill, there is a constant accumulation of the most offensive 

 and deleterious matter in that portion of the sewer, sufficient 

 of itself to engender — and actually so engendering — fever and 

 cholera iu their worst forms. I hesitate not to affirm that, in 

 a moral point of view, the late commissioners are the direct 

 causes of the loss of life occasioned by this culpable alteration* 

 and are, in every such case, guilty of manslaughter. 



But I need not to have particularized this individual spot, as 

 a proof of the reckless neglect of the commissioners. The whole 

 district I have named has equally been consigned by them to 

 the ravages of disease in every form, as the medical men of the 

 Eeij;hbourhood will testify. No valid excuse can be urged for 

 this neglect, for an immense sura is annually raised in tbe dis- 

 trict by the sewers' rate. I defy them to show that one-half of 

 that sum has been expended ou that side the water. The whole 

 neighbourhood is now in precisely the same state, in regard to 

 sewage accommodation, as when the cholera first raged in 

 1832, except that the mischief has been annually increasing, 

 by the increasing quautity of sewage. The commissioners 

 have beeu ready enough to construct magnificent sewers in the 

 more aristocratic districts, in which they themselves reside, 

 sparing no expense and going any depth to effect their object. 

 I have seen, on the north side of London, sewers constructing 

 at a depth of forty or fifty feet, and very properly so ; but 

 wliy the money raised in the humbler districts should be in 

 any degree appropriated to the accnmrooddtiou of the richer 

 neighbourhoods, to the neglect of the former,' I leave them to 

 explain. In any part north and west of Iiondou the most 

 ample provision has been made, and is still iu progress, for 

 preserving the health of the iuhabitants ; whilst the south side 



is almost wholly neglected, although made to contribute its 

 full quota of the sewers' rates. 



And what is the physical effect of this neglect of the com- 

 missioners ? When I made my survey of the district, I in- 

 quired of the medical gentlemen and others, and they one 

 and all agreed that it was becoming increasingly liable to 

 febrile disease, and that, in consequence, the more respectable 

 inhabitants were deserting it. I called on a house agent from 

 whom I formerly held a house; and he assured me that such 

 was the prejudice against the district, on account of its in- 

 creasing unhealthiness, that house-rent had fallen full tl irty 

 per cent., and he found it exceedingly difficult to let them. 

 Almost all the inhabitaats on whom I called complsined of 

 constant indisposition, by which their constitutions were in- 

 jured. The more wenlthy made a point of removing, in tlie 

 summer months, to more healthy localities, iu order to avoid 

 attacks of fever, which they were sure to experience if they 

 remained. The Albany-road, however, is but a sample of the 

 entire district from Vauxhall to Deptford, which receives its 

 confirraetion in the accounts of the Registiar-General. The 

 prevalence of fever, diarrhoea, and other kindred diseases, is 

 notorious ; increasing as you approach Bermoudsey, where the 

 full efftct of this defective sewerage is developed, it being the 

 most unhealthy portion of the suburbs of London. 



It is high time that this serious state of things should be put 

 an end to ; why the recommendations of Parliament have 

 so long lain in abeyance, it is impossible to say ; but it dis- 

 plays a culpable disregard of humau life and happiness in those 

 in whose hands the power is vested to carry them into effect 

 Iq the meantime the establishment of a company, authorized 

 by Parliament to take it up, so far as to disjiose of the sewage 

 at the outlet, would materially lighten the labours of the 

 commissioners, by restricting thetn to that portion of the 

 work which belongs to the City. The proposals and estimates 

 of the company must be made the subject of another letter. 



An Old Norfolk Farmer. 

 London, Sept. 10, 



THE AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Looking at the large extent of our trade with the 

 United States, and the extensive supplies of agricultural 

 produce we draw from thence, accurate statistics are 

 greatly required, and would be very acceptable. The 

 American government professes to do much in the way 

 of returns, and the commercial journals of the States 

 issue elaborate, but very conflicting estimates fi om time 

 to time, of the prospects of the crops, the results of the 

 harvest, the shipments, average prices, &c. In nearly 

 all the departments of human effort connected with 

 commerce and aariculture, with which the prosperity 

 of the Republic is most immediately identified, there is 

 felt to be a lament^ible want of trustworthy information. 



One of the latest Philadelphia papers received, touch- 

 ing upon this subject, .says: " Tlie great crops of the 

 present year are nearly harvested over a large portion 

 of the country, and are rapidly maturing in the other 

 part of it. Yet at this time we have not even the 

 meagre returns which are issued from the Patent-office 

 of the results for last year. There are no official data 

 at Washington upon which the productive industry of 



tlie United States can be accurately calculated ; and all 

 the statements which have beeu put forth, professing 

 to give precise aggregates of the various crops, are con- 

 jectural and without any means of verification." 



To the statesman, the merchant, the farmer, the 

 mechanic, the manufacturer, and indeed the men of 

 every pursuit, reliable returns of the production and 

 industry of a country are of the first consequence. 

 They form the basis upon which public policy thould 

 be directed and private interests governed. 



i\Iost of the European governments have, with a just 

 appreciation of the value of statistics, taken extraor- 

 dinary pains to establish a thorough sys.tem, extending to 

 every calling, through which the completest and most 

 detailed information is obtained every year. The exam- 

 ples of Scotland and Ireland show that there is no 

 serious practical difficulty in organizing a system for 

 obtaining early and reliable information with regard to 

 the yield of the cereal crops. 1 1 requires but two leading- 

 requisites : first, intellectual comprehension, to grasp 

 the subject in its large entirety j and next, the faculty 



