THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



409 



road, and also by the North British Railway, and 

 is about three miles distant from the city; a por- 

 tion to the north of the railway slopes rapidly, but 

 the other part has a slight fall only towards 

 the sea, which washes the northern side. 



*' The sewer water is carried from the city for 

 the most part in an open channel, which I was told 

 became offensive in Summer, and when within a 

 mile from the farm there are deposit-beds, which 

 are emptied occasionally , these are not, however, 

 under the control of the farmer who hires the land. 



" The system of irrigation is very simple. A 

 main water-course is led along the highest part of 

 the ground, from which irrigating channels pro- 

 ceed, at distances of about 150 feet, and these are 

 deep enough to drain the fields when the water is 

 not on; it is not levelled, but very uneven, but as 

 the water is on only for a day, the farmer states 

 that this is of no consequence. 



" The whole of the Craigintinny Farm, consist- 

 ing of more than 600 acres of land, is hired by the 

 present tenant, and that part irrigated next the road 

 is let by him every year by public roup or auction, 

 in lots of under one acre each, to the cow-keepers 

 for the season ; the lowest price £15 per acre, the 

 highest for any pare £'40 per acre, but this last 

 price was given under peculiar circumstances, and 

 only applied to one lot. The land was waste land 

 before the water was applied, and worth only about 

 2s, per acre. 



" None of the grass on the land thus let is made 

 into hay, but is cut green, and carried to the places 

 where the cows are kept, m different parts of the 

 city. The number of times that the mowing takes 

 place varies with the season, and the ideas of the 

 parties hiring, but it has been by some cut eight 

 times in one season. The grass is now about four 

 inches high, not much better in appearance than on 

 the pasture fields at Beddington. The quantity 

 of sewer water flowing does not exceed the quantity 

 now passing trom the Croydon sewers, but I think 

 that it is not quite so diluted. 



" I should also state that they have an engine 

 and pumps to raise the water to those parts of the 

 farm above the level of the sewer water course, 

 but this is not often used, as, although the farmer 

 states that it answered his purpose to pump it, it 

 pays him, of course, better to let it run by gravita- 

 tion on to the fields. 



'' At Mansfield the system is very different, and 

 much more complicated, engineering works of a 

 very expensive kind having been erected by the 

 late Duke of Portland, to divert the water from a 

 small river which passed along the bottom of the 

 valley below Mansfield, to the crest of a hill, in 

 many places 80 to 100 feet higher than its original 

 course, the land between the new channel and the 

 old water course being subjected to the irrigation 

 process. 



" The new channel or water course receives the 

 sewage from Sutton, Mansfield, and several 

 villages and factories above, for some miles, and 

 also the rain-fall and springs for several miles of 

 district. For a distance of three miles it is not 

 used on the land ; at the point where the irrigation 

 commences it is 18 feet wide, and on Saturday was 

 two feet deep, running at the rate of about one 



mile per hour. After the commencement of the 

 irrigated fields, the main channel passes for five 

 miles in a very tortuous course, following the 

 variation in the level of the high ground, with a road 

 to the farm intervening between the water course 

 and the fields for about half its length. 



" From this description it will be seen that the 

 irrigated land is very steep, having so much fall 

 that in order to retain and separate the manure 

 from the water, and to prevent its passing away too 

 quickly, four longitudinal channels have been 

 made along the side of the hill or slope : feeders to 

 supply them lead under the road, at the distance 

 apart of about 200 yards, to supply the top 

 irrigating channels, from which the water passes 

 over the grass to the next channel, and so on in 

 succession until it reaches the old river bed, where 

 it forms a sparkling stream, but from its rapid 

 passage over the land it has not lost all its virtue, 

 but is again passed over the meadows of Cliptone 

 Park, a distance of seven miles from the beginning 

 of the works before described. Its beneficial 

 effects, however, are not so perceptible here as on 

 the land where it is first used. The whole farm is 

 more than 900 acres ; the land irrigated 400 acres ; 

 and the late Duke did not allow any artificial 

 manure to be used, but in the spring and autumn 

 had the grass cut green, and carried to the farm- 

 yard, where it was consumed, partly by cattle, and 

 partly used for litter, all the grass being once 

 mowed for hay in the season. 



" The system now pursued is diflPerent. All the 

 land is now once mowed for hay, but in the spring 

 and autumn a large number of beasts and sheep 

 are kept, so that it is not dependent solely on the 

 irrigation for manure, and could not be quoted as 

 a perfect specimen of the effect of sewage water. 

 A great portion of the land now irrigated was not 

 worth 29. Od. per acre, but it could now be let 

 (although at a distance from any large town) at 

 £4 10s. per acre, which the baihff told me had been 

 offered for it. 



"At Carlisle the quantity of land irrigated is 

 SO acres ; it is a very flat piece of meadow, with 

 the river on two sides ; there is no means of exit 

 for the clarified water, but through the soil, which 

 is very porous. The irrigating channels pass all 

 round, and intersect the land, which the water is 

 allowed to cover in sections during the day ; and 

 although it covers the allotted sections during the 

 day, it soaks into the soil during the night so as to 

 be imperceptible in the morning. I cannot give 

 the result of the process here as respects rent or 

 profit, as Mr. M'Dougall, having only commenced 

 in the spring of last year, is not prepared to give 

 ihe particulars. 



" The sewer water from Carlisle is not pumped 

 on to the land continuously, as the discharge pipe 

 is only ten inches in diameter. During and after 

 rain a portion is allowed to run into the river, and 

 all the water passing from the sewers between six 

 in the evening and six in the morning, flows into 

 the river direct, without going over the meadow. 

 The irrigating channels are very well made, and the 

 slope nicely turfed ; but — although the population 

 of Carlisle is 30,000— the run of water is not one- 

 fourth of that passing from the Croydon sewers, so 



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