Town Seicage, 



491 



Table XII. — Eelating to Scwagre-irriwation in various localities. 



Towns. 



Alnwick 

 Carlisle 

 Croydon 

 Malvern 



Eugby 



Tavistock 



Watford 



Worthins; 



Population 

 contributing. 



6,500 

 22,000 

 16,000 



4,000 



6,700 

 6,000 

 4,000 

 7,000 



Acres. 



Original. Reduced, 



42 



Crops, &c. 



Arable and grass ; abandoned 

 Meadow-grass ; all grazed 

 Meadow and rye-grass . . 



Grass 



Meadow and rye-grass . . 

 Meadow ; chiefly grazed 



Grass 



Rye-grass — Summer 

 Meado w-grass — Win ter 

 Grass ; not yet at work 



:} 



Annual 

 raymcnt 

 to Towns. 



Nothing 



? 



300?. 



Nothing 



50Z. 

 Nothing 



10/, 

 Nothing 



At Alnwick, tlie late Duke of Northumberland put down 

 machinery and piping for the distribution of the sewage of the 

 town over about 270 acres of mixed arable and grass-land. 

 After a very short time, the tenants, who had the free use of the 

 sewage for the cost of its application, abandoned it altogether ; 

 and the Bailiff of the District, who reports the failure, expresses 

 his opinion strongly against the general applicability of sewage 

 to arable land. 



At Carlisle, the sewage of only a portion of the town is utilised. 

 It is deodorized by Mr, McDougall's disinfecting fluid, and 

 raised by steam-power some 10 or 12 feet into an open cut, from 

 which it is diverted for application to the land by moveable iron 

 troughs. It is estimated that from 8000 to 9000 tons of sewage 

 are applied per acre per annum. It is understood that little or 

 nothing is realized by the town ; but that the tenant makes a 

 considerable profit by sub-letting the sewage-irrigated land for 

 grazing purposes. 



In the neighbourhood of Croydon, as already referred to, the 

 sewage of nearly 20,000 persons is applied to about 250 acres of 

 meadow and Italian rye-grass. It is calculated that more than 

 6000 tons of sewage are available for each acre, A considerable 

 portion of the fluid is used two or three times over ; and it 

 finally passes from the land very fairly purified. It is esti- 

 mated that, after making deduction of 4Z, for rental, the gross 

 return per ton of sewage applied is, at the present prices of the 

 produce, with Italian rye-grass from f c?, to Id., and with meadow- 

 grass from ^d. to ^d. The sewage is not applied in any sys- 

 tematic manner to other crops, but it has been tried on a small 

 scale to root-crops. An enlargement of the area of irrigation is 

 contemplated, which will, if carried out, reduce the amount of 



