1864.] CHEMISTRY OF MANURES. 113 



all innovations, they are vaunted by some with premature zeal as 

 ]3erfect ; while others, with pardonable scepticism, decry them as 

 utterly impracticable. Truth for the present seems to lie between 

 these extremes. The steam-plough, though answering well in 

 large and level fields with favorable soils, still requires adaptation to 

 less easy conditions of tillage. The Tubular Irrigating system is 

 still liable to the sudden influx of storm-waters, over-burdening, 

 and often over-mastering, the steam-pumps, so as seriously to inter- 

 fere with the economy of the distributive operation. But inventive 

 research and practical experiment are rapidly proceeding side by 

 side, and every year, not to say every month, sees some fresh truth 

 elicited, some previous " impossibility" achieved. 



Utilization op Urban Ejecta as Manure. — The separa- 

 tion of surface-water from sewage is, by a certain number, confi- 

 dently relied on to solve the problem of sewage utilization, in con- 

 formity with Mr. F. 0. Ward's formula, — " the rainfall to the 

 river, the sewage to the soiiy Others are of opinion that sewage, 

 even when diluted by admixture with rain-swollen brooks, may 

 be economically pumped on the land. A third party believe 

 gravitation to be the only economical distributive power for 

 sewage ; and open gutters, contoured along the undulating ground, 

 the only channels suited for its conveyance. 



On these mechanical questions the Keporter, as a chemist, has 

 of course no opinion to ofi"er. But that the reckless squandering 

 of town-sewage to the sea, if continued on its present prodigious 

 scale, must, in a few generations, justify the worst forebodings of 

 Liebig, and that the same steam-power which has induced the 

 evil can alone supply the remedy, the Reporter confidently believes. 



[Here follows a notice of the systems of urban defecation pur- 

 sued in Baden and in Japan, with the remarks of Liebig thereon.] 



The organization of the so-called " Continuous tubular circula- 

 ting system," by which, with the aid of steam-power, the healthy 

 and ceaseless interchange of pure water and manurial liquor 

 between town and country is now sought to be achieved, seems 

 destined to constitute the mechanical compliment of the great 

 ehemico-physiological truths promulgated by Justus Liebig ; from 

 whose powerful genius the promoters of this plan anxiously antici- 

 pate not merely its adoption, but its incorporation in his great 

 agricultural edifice, as its crown and pinnacle. 



It is not however pretended by the warmest advocates of this 



Vol. I. H No. 2. 



