522 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



its distribution over the land. This is done intermittently, 

 and, as a rule, the irrigation of growing crops is avoided ; but 

 as the primary object of a sewage farm is to dispose of the 

 sewage, and not to grow crops, whenever it is necessary for 

 such disposal the sewage is turned on to the crops, in spite of 

 the wholesale destruction often caused by such a procedure. 

 This unfortunate necessity in the name and for the sake of 

 health is the consideration which determines the manage- 

 ment of a sewage farm. 



It has been shown repeatedly that tenants will not dis- 

 pose of sewage to the ruin of their crops, and the respoiisibility 

 of efficient management has therefore devolved entirely upon 

 the Board of Works or local sanitary authority. But small 

 areas can be let to market-gardeners, the local Board agree- 

 ing to supply sewage upon demand ; or the whole farm 

 may be let if the stipulation be made that the whole of 

 the sewage is to be disposed of without nuisance or injury to 

 health. 



The amount of farm produce raised upon sewage farms 

 is sometimes phenomenal. On the Craigentinny Meadows 

 (originally drifting sea-sand), irrigated by the sewage of Edin- 

 burgh, from 50 to 70 tons of grass per acre are raised, yielding 

 thus about £36 per acre. Rye-grass is about the most abun- 

 dant crop growii, as this grass has a wonderful power of absorb- 

 ing sewage, and five and seven cuttings are taken off each acre 

 annually, yielding in all from 30 to 50 tons per acre, The 

 Sewage of Towns Commission concluded that experience had 

 shown that, with the application of 5,000 tons of sewage per 

 acre per annum to meadow-lands, an average of 1,000 gallons 

 of milk had been produced from the cattle fed upon the pro- 

 duce ; and, further, that an average gross return of £30 to £35 

 per acre per annum in milk, at 8d. per gallon, might be ex- 

 pected. Dr. Corfield quotes evidence to show that land which 

 " formerly let at from £2 to £6 per Scotch acre is now let an- 

 nually at from £30 to £40, and that poor sandy land on the 

 seashore, which might be worth 2s. 6d. per acre, lets at an 

 annual rent of from £15 to £20." 



These figures might at first sight lead one to suppose that 

 the profits arising from sewage farming must be considerable ; 

 but it is not so. The amount of capital absorbed in the ac- 

 quisition of land, and in its preparation, the number of hands 

 required to do the work, and the constant risk of rainy 

 weather, with its accompanying losses, all tend to make 

 sewage farming a hazardous undertaking from a financial 

 standpoint. 



The following table gives some of the information I have 

 been able to collect in reference to the initial outlay, the ex- 

 penditure, and the incomes of sewage farms : — 



