102 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



relations of the earth, sea, and air, the atmosphere 

 is indeed something more than a shoreless ocean, 

 at the bottom of which he creeps along. It is an 

 envelope, or covering, for the dispersion of hght 

 and heat over the surface of the earth : it is a sewer 

 into which, with every breath we exhale, we cast 

 vast quantities of dead animal matter : it is a 

 laboratory for puiification, in which that matter is 

 recompounded, and wrought again into wholesome 

 and healthful shapes : it is a machine for drawing 

 up all the rivers from the sea, and conTeying the 



waters from their fountains in the ocean to their 

 sources in the mountains : it is an inexhaustible 

 magazine, marvellously adapted for many benign 

 and beneficent purposes. Upon the proper work- 

 ing of this machine depends the well-being of 

 every plant and animal that inhabits the earth. Its 

 movements, therefore, cannot be left to chance. 

 They are guided by laws that make all parts, func- 

 tions, and movements of the machinery as obedient 

 to order, and as harmonious, as the planets in their 

 orbits. 



SEWAGE IRRIGATION. 



Sir, — The effectual drainage of towns is so intimately 

 connected with the wellbeing of society in a monetary, 

 sanitary, and social sense, as to render any attempt to 

 utilize urban excreta not only a question of great public 

 importance, but of great public utility. 



The source of pollution, and often of pestilence, from 

 the mephitic exhalations of stagnant masses or sluggish 

 streams, the difficulty hag been to render it available at 

 rates at which it could be used for arresting the loss of 

 alkalies absorbed by the soil in the ordinary course of 

 cropping. 



Its value as a manure is unquestionable. The only 

 question is one of application — of elimination as a friable 

 manure on ths one hand, or fluid manure, either pure 

 or deodorized, on the other. 



It is contended that elimination can only be effected 

 at a sacrifice of the more essential elements of fertility 

 contained in the fluid portion of the mass, which is per- 

 fectly compatible with analytical results ; while those 

 who have used it moulded into bricks for the conve- 

 nience of transit, characterise it as only so much " sat! " 

 earth, adding little or nothing to fertility. 



Used as a fluid manure it is not open to these objec- 

 tions. Retaining the essential elements of fertility until 

 absorbed by the soil, it is not only more readily elabo- 

 rated and absorbed by vegetation than friable manure, 

 but has the additional advantage of compensation for 

 the loss of ammonia to which rain is subject before 

 reaching the soil. 



Its mode of application is both easy and free from 

 engineering difficulties. Brick drains or glazed pipes for 

 the purposes of draining, and impermeable reservoirs, 

 mains, flags and stand pipes along the roadways and 

 cross-roads, are the appliances. 



But any attempt to traverse adjoining lands either 

 with pijcs or open drains will inevitably result in failure, 

 as a fixed charge per acre would be regarded by the con- 

 sumers in the light of an additional rent, and effectually 

 mar the object in view. 



Consumption would necessarily vary in particular in- 

 stances, according to the state of the season, the nature 

 of the crop under culture, and amount of moisture 

 retained in the soil relatively to underdraining or 

 otherwise. 



Carried within easy range of the consumer, the masses 



of irrigation would be left to the ordinary course of 

 supply and demand. It could then be carted from the 

 nearest stand-pipe as occasion required, and yield a 

 larger revenue than any uniform system of rating that 

 could be adopted. 



The sewage of the metropolis applied in this way, 

 allowing the population to amount to three millions, 

 would be equivalent to a minimum irrigation, an inch 

 deep, per annum, of upwards of two million acres ; or an 

 area 58 miles square, and supplied at the rate of 1,000 

 gallons or over 4 tons for a shilling, would yield a re- 

 venue of £1,642,500 per annum, representing a capital 

 at 5 per cent, of £32,850,000. 



Croyrfon— where, I believe, a company has already 

 been formed — with a population, according to the last 

 census, of 20,013, now probably about 25,000, would 

 be equal to the irrigation, at a minimum depth of an 

 inch, per annum, of 18,331 acres, or an area 5i miles 

 square, equal to a revenue of ,£13,678 per annum, or a 

 capital at 5 per cent, of £273,750. 



Carlisle, with a population in 1851 of 26,310, aug- 

 mented to 30,000, would irrigate 21,997 acres per 

 annum, at a minimum depth of an inch per acre, or an 

 area 6 miles square, and yield a revenue of £\&,A2b per 

 annum, equal to a capital at 5 per cent, of £328,500. 



Brighton, having adopted the Local Management 

 Act, with a population in 1851 of 69,673, now say 

 80,000, would be equivalent to the irrigation of 58,660 

 acres, an inch deep, per annum, or an area 9^ miles 

 square, and yield a revenue of £43,800 per annum, 

 equivalent to a capital at 5 per cent, of £876,000. 



Birmingham in 1851 contained a population of 

 232,841, which, increased to 300,000, would irrigate 

 219,975 acres per annum, at a minimum depth of an 

 inch per acre, or an area 18j miles square, equivalent to 

 a revenue of £164,250 per annum, or £3,285,000 

 capital at 5 per cent. 



Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and other towns and 

 cities, in proportion to population, discharge, and 

 depth of irrigation. While the population of the three 

 kingdoms, taken at thirty millions, would be equivalent 

 to the irrigation an inch deep per annum of about 

 twenty-two million acres, or less than half the acreage 

 in cultivation, or area of upwards of 586 miles square, 

 and yield a revenue of 16^ millions sterling per annum 



