504 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



these two, and are unnatural. When we place our- 

 selves in abnormal relations we must be more care- 

 ful. We should place ourselves under the green 

 flag- ot nature's protection, and cherish our grass- 

 plats. 



. In conclusion, the speaker beautifully alluded to 

 the vision of St. John in the apoeal^ pse,of the pure 

 river of water of life, clear as crystal, and of the 

 tree of life on either side of the river; the leaves of 

 which were for the healing of the nations. Blessed 

 trees of life, whose leaves even here on earth ai-e 

 for the healing of the nations! 



THE DISPOSAL OF SEMTAGE IN LARGE 

 CITIES AND TOWNS. 



THE WAY THE MATTER IS MANAGED BV THE EKIENDS 

 OVER IN ENGLANt*. 



f?^ HE disposal of sewerag-e was at one time a 

 a" matter of very great trouble and expense to 

 > many of the towns in England, not only 

 caused by ihc trouble of collecting and cart- 

 ing it away, but by numerous lawsuits on 

 account of the nuisance caused by the great heaps 

 of refuse, and the fouling of the water of the rivers 

 and brooks into which the liquid portion Howed. 

 Many methods were employed. One large town, 

 after buying a farm to run it on, and going to great 

 expense, which failed on account of the land being 

 so low and already too wet, built a large factory to 

 convert it into manure in a dry state, with an im- 

 mense chimney-stack to carry off the vapors. Sew- 

 eragef-arms, however, seemed to be the most ration- 

 al way to dispose of it, and get rid of the trouble; 

 but it was a long time before any of them were able 

 to make expenses. One of the first to make a suc- 

 cess of it was Bedford, and I will take that town as 

 an example. The fact of its being the place where 

 Bunyan was imprisoned may add some little interest 

 to the place. I was there in 1879, and the old jail was 

 standing in much the same condition as when he 

 "Was an inmate. 



The first step toward the solution of the sewerage 

 problem was the construction of two sets of sewers 

 —one for rain or storm water only, and the other 

 set for the sewerage and water used to flood them. 

 These last empty into large tanks, constructed for 

 the purpose. These are many feet square, and 

 about eight feet deep, and walled and floored with 

 bricks. The sewerage is let into these in turn, and a 

 certain amount of water, if necessary to reduce it to 

 the proper consistency. Then it is all stirred up by 

 chains worked through it by steam power. After a 

 time it is allowed to settle awhile, and then the 

 water is run ott', comparatively cleai', on to any por- 

 tion of the farm ready to receive it. All the water 

 being run oft', the sediment is thi-own out and given 

 away, but more often carted away at the expense of 

 the town; for by repeated trials it is proved to be 

 of no value, all the fertilizing properties having 

 been carried away by the water. 



Rye grass is the principal crop grown, that being 

 more readily disposed of. It is cut several times a 

 year, averaging 40 tons (of 2240 lbs.) per acre per 

 annum; in fact, some part is always being cut. It 

 sells to horse and cow keepers at 25 cents per cwt. 

 (112 lbs.). They also grow large crops of mangel- 

 wurtzel, Swede (rutabaga) cabbages, onions, etc. 

 When I was there last, the mangels would average 

 about 35 lbs. weight each. A friend of mine told 

 me he sent a boy with a horse and cart to get a load, 

 and he came back without any— said there were 

 none he could lift into the cart. They had onions 



valued at $350 per acre— 2 cents ijer lb. being the 

 usual price. To work such a farm with any chance of 

 success requires a porous subsoil, well drained, so 

 that the water will all get flltsred, and run away so 

 pure that any river or brook into which it runs may 

 not be any the worse for it. The filtering power, or 

 capabilities of the soil, should be so great as not to 

 be liable to be overtaxed, for you will see that it is 

 not a case of taking and irrigating just as much and 

 as often as you please, but you have to dispose of 

 all that comes; and in a wet season, when you are 

 least able to get rid of it, more will come than at 

 other times. 



In England, very few farms are owned by those 

 who work them for a living. Nearly all are let out 

 to yearly tenants, subject to six months' notice to 

 quit. Leases are the exception. Good land brings 

 a yearly rent of ten or twelve dollars per acre; 

 some pasture land much more. There is always a 

 written agreement, signed by both landlord and 

 tenant, the pi-ovisions of which are very stringent. 



No ha.v, straw, roots, or manure, can be sold off, 

 excepting potatoes; no field is to be sown with two 

 white straws in succession— that is, wheat, barley, 

 or oats, must not follow one another; no grass is to 

 be mown for hay without a corresponding dressing 

 of manure. The most generally approved plan is 

 what is called the " four-course " system, which has 

 to be worked much as follows: 



First Year.— After the land has been well work- 

 ed, a heavy dressing of barnyard manure is plowed 

 under, and some artificial sown broad cast and 

 worked in. The crop planted or sown has to be 

 turnips, Swedes, or mangels. Half of these, a.t least, 

 have to be eaten on the ground by sheep. The 

 rest can be hauled home to be fed to the stock kept 

 in the yards during the winter. 



Second Year.— The ground having been plowed 

 and prepared in time, barley or oats, but more fre- 

 quently barley, is sown, and with the barley a mix- 

 ture of rye, grass, and clovers. 



At harvest-time, when the barley is harvested, 

 there is a good pasture of clover and grass which 

 comes in very handy for the young lambs not long 

 weaned, and can be grazed all winter, and stands 

 for the crop of the 



Third Year.— This can be either pastured the 

 whole of the season, or only part of the time, and 

 mown once for hay. In either case it has a good 

 dressing of farmyard manure, some time during the 

 summer, and in the fall it is plowed under for 

 wheat, which is the ci-op of the fourth year, and 

 completes the four courses. 



There will be a better crop of wheat if the clover 

 has been mown for hay than if it has been all eaten 

 off. The cutting causes fresh roots to strike into 

 the ground, and these, which seem to be very nour- 

 ishing to the wheat, give better results than even 

 the manure left on the field by the stock that eats 

 off the crop. Something was said in your instruc- 

 tive and always welcome journal about 37 bushels 

 of wheat per acre being a large crop. My father is 

 still living, and working a farm near Kidderminster, 

 England; and by following pretty well the system 

 described he gets 60 bushels of wheat per acre. If 

 the farmers working the old worn-out farms of En- 

 gland were to raise no more wheat per acre than is 

 made on the fertile and inexhaustible soil of this 

 country, they could not pay their rents. 



Hondo, Tex., Mar. 31, 1887. Geo. E. Hailes. 



Friend IL, your article is an extremely in- 



