238 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 



at Wimbledon, including a lake of upwards of 20 acres, lie laid 

 down pipes for 6 acres of gi-ass-land, which lie " sperged " with lake- 

 water, and at the same time he applied the same process to 6 acres of 

 grass-land in another part, with sewage-water, his object being to see 

 what would be the difierencc between the two ; and the result was that 

 the lake-water produced as much eiFect as the liquid sewage. (Hear, 

 hear.) The laboiu* of applying the sewage, including interest on 

 plant, was about 38s. per acre per annum, and the extra value of the 

 produce was estimated at only 32s. The whole sewage was now 

 applied profitably to about 10 acres, by flooding, instead of to 125 

 acres, to which it was originally intended to apply it by a contoui- 

 channel, which he had foi-med upwards of a mile long. The original 

 intention of this irrigation was simply to intercept the sewage of 

 Wimbledon from an ornamental lake on a residential estate, as we now 

 desire to divert it from all our rivers and streams, and even from our 

 ditches ; and, by double draining, even the stiflest soils can always be 

 made a filtering medium for this i)urpose, sometimes with a profit, and 

 invariably with a successful sanitary result. 



Ml". Fawcett said : Having some years ago incurred considerable 

 expense in constructing tanks for the purpose of saving the liquid 

 manure of his farmyard, and having afterwards iipjilied it, especially 

 on grass-land, he wished to give the results. When he ajiplied that 

 liquid manure during wet weather to a reasonable extent on grass-laud, 

 he foimd it very beneficial ; but wlien he put it on grass-land in dry 

 weather, and particularly if the weather were hot, it bm-nt and destroyed 

 the gi'ass, and inflicted great loss. Even taking into account the 

 nmnber of wet days that they had in this climate from the beginning 

 of the year to the end, there was a very considerable period during 

 which liquid manm-o coidd not be applied to grass-land. On that 

 point he spoke from experience, and not from any theoretic ideas. 

 They could not possibly api)ly sewage in hot diy weather without doing 

 serious injury to the grass. 



Lord Feveusham (who had succeeded Sir E, Kerrison in the chair 

 after his retirement) said he believed it was well known that liquid 

 manure should always be applied in di-ipping weather. 



Mr. Fawcett said he found that the number of days on which he could 

 apply liquid manure was comparatively few, and the result was that he 

 gave up applying it because he found it unprofitable. A gentleman 

 had remarked that he thought it might be applied to sandy soils to 

 any extent beneficially. He had tried that, and had found that such 

 was not the case ; for where his men ajiplied it to mangold-wm-zel or 

 turnips, or any yoimg plants, it killed them. It is also an important 

 point to observe that if liquid manure be applied to a very large 

 extent on grass-land, even in wet weather, the gi'ass produced is of 

 so coarse a character that neither cattle nor sheep ■wall readily eat it. 

 In short, there are many practical reasons why the use of sewage is 

 improfitable. The farm to which he had alluded is his o\vn property, 

 situate in Westmoreland, where there is a fair quantity of rain ; he 

 mixed some of the sewage with once or tmce its bulk, of water, and 

 having tried it with various kinds of grass, and imder various circum- 



