59 
seasons, and its effluent stream is received by the river Wandle, which 
bears it through several large estates, the proprietors of which, men of 
wealth and intelligence, would be quick to detect and prompt to re- 
move any nuisance inflicted upon them, having on four different occa- 
sions enjoined the Croydon board of health from creating nuisances. 
But in the case of the effluent water of the Beddington farm they have 
found no grounds for complaint. 
The farm belongs to the Croydon Board of Health, which has but 
limited financial means to make it efficient as a sewage-farm. The dis- 
trict of Croydon for many years has shown a clean bill of health, the 
larger portion of the people living in villages within half a mile of the 
farm, yet the death-rate is about 14 per cent, while the birth-rate is 
more than double. The death-rate might. be lowered still further by 
proper sanitary measures, abating several local nuisances not connected 
with sewage, such as foul wells, cesspools, &c. Dr. Carpenter claims 
that the utilization of sewage at Beddington has improved the health 
of the district. Very little of typhoid fever or other blood-poisoning 
disease is noted. He does not consider the effluent water as potable, 
but contends that it may be admitted to a water-course without any 
injury either to human residents or to the fish in the waters. The com- 
missioners in charge of rivers allow any water to go into a run- 
ning stream which does not contain more tian two parts by weight of 
organic carbon, or thirty parts of organic nitrogen, in each 100.000 parts 
of water. The effluent water of Beddington, by careful analysis, falls 
within these official limits, and is even more pure than that which is sup- 
plied from the Thames for the people of London to drink. Beddington 
farm, with very inefficient management, returns a gross product of £20 
per,acre, being mostly grass. It has greatly cheapened both milk and 
meat in the local markets. 
Dr. Voelcker, while questioning some of Dr. Carpenter’s theories, and 
insisting that organic matter must be reduced to the mineral condition 
before it can be perfectly assimilable by. vegetation, confirms his state- 
ments of the Beddington sewage-farm from personal inspection. Sew- 
age grass is richer in nitrogen than ordinary grass, but it is also more 
watery. It is very useful for milch-cows. Dr. Carpenter rejoined that 
the rye-grass on the Beddington farm was mixed with other kinds of 
food correcting its watery tendencies, and that this was the reason of 
the superior character of the milk produced. 
AN ENGLISH SEWAGE-FARM.—Lord Warwick’s farm of 400 acres re- 
ceives the whole sewage of the borough of Leamington, with that of the 
suburban parishes of Milverton and Lillington, amounting on the whole 
to a million gallons per day. The soil isarich loam, overlyinga gravelly 
subsoil. The sewage is pumped through an iron main, 2} miles long, 
to a height of 132 feet above the farm, which insures its easy distribu- 
tion. Eight hydrants regulate the flow and terra-cotta pipes carry the 
liquid to different fields, where it is distributed by trenches, which are 
dammed at different points by movable sluices. This arrangement has 
been in operation for five years, yet no complaint of nuisance has yet 
been heard. Lord Warwick pays £450 per annum for the material, and 
his contract was to run thirty years from the beginning. The borough 
pays the expense of pumping. The sewage is applied to almost all kinds 
of crops. The soil is generally well saturated before seeding. Great 
care is exercised to prevent the liquid from coming in contact with green 
leaves, which, in such case, become blackened and destroyed. The ef- 
fluent water after examination at several points was pronounced by the 
health authorities remarkably pure, being especially free from fungoid 
