STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 185 



1. Solid matter, to be cared for above ground. 



2. Fluid matter, to go into the sewers below ground. 



The fluid sewage must be purified and deodorized, and the water 

 turned off pure enough to enter any decent river. The solid residue 

 must be handled in such of the ways indicated above as experiment 

 shall show to be most efficient and economical. 



Meantime we are in Minneapolis lavishing hundreds of thousands 

 of dollars upon a system of sewers planned to empty the liquid filth 

 of a great city into the Mississippi river. It may be we cannot stop 

 where we are, but from this instant our engineering talent should be 

 devoted to such a modification of plans as may render the sewers we 

 are now laying of some use in a system of the future, designed to dis- 

 charge its contents at some convenient point for purification. 



The city will not be allowed to discharge its filth into the Missis- 

 sippi river indefinitely. Mighty as that stream is, it is not big enough 

 to dilute and deodorize the sewage of a hundred towns and cities seat- 

 ed on its banks and tributaries. The national government will soon 

 be invoked to preserve this great waterway from pollution, or if not, 

 the riparian cities of our own State will soon be knocking at the 

 doors of its capital for protection against the stinks and offal of the 

 dual cities. 



It is none too soon to attend to the problem of caring for own filth. 

 We may now handle it at leisure and with composure. If we neglect 

 it, we may be forced suddenly to adopt hasty plans, and expend mill- 

 ions, only to find those plans unsuitable. 



At the conclusion of Prof. Folwell's address, on motion, he was 

 given a vote of thanks, and the address was referred to a special com- 

 mittee, consisting of Messrs. Owen, Grray and Hillman, to take suita- 

 ble action thereon. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Pearce. Mr. President, the paper read by Col. Folwell was 

 grand. This subject has been under consideration for some time past 

 by our market gardeners. If this surplus material can be carried 

 back to the soil where it belongs, and utilized, it will prove of great 

 advantage, and we hope the municipal corporation of this city will 

 aid us in this grand and useful enterprise. 



Mr. Harris. This was a very important subject. As soon as the 

 people of LaCrosse began to use the water of the Mississippi river 

 some sort of scourge broke out, and many were taken off by diph- 



