SEWAGE. 



631 



other during the periods of the year when it 

 can be so applied ; and in the early spring, be- 

 fore the summer green crops are sown, prob- 

 ably sewage may be more usefully applied 

 to winter wheat and oats than to any thing 

 else. The third crop of wheat, on the same 

 land, the third year running, can now be seen 

 growing, and apparently very healthy, upon a 

 poor gravel at the Lodge Farm ; and this re- 

 sult has been obtained exclusively by the use 

 of sewage, and of a surprisingly small quan- 

 tity. Last year there was a very fair crop in- 

 deed of 5-J- quarters to the acre, and the sew- 

 age applied was only about 500 tons equal, 

 in round numbers, at a penny a ton, to about 

 a couple of guineas ; and, the first year that we 

 tried sewage upon wheat, it was put to one 

 portion of the same field which looked partic- 

 ularly bad. Two portions of this field were 

 carefully measured, and one was left as it was, 

 and the other was sewaged with about the 

 same quantity of sewage as mentioned before. 

 The result was very remarkable. The unsew- 

 aged portion gave 3 loads of straw to the acre, 

 and 3 quarters 5 bushels of grain ; the sewaged 

 portion gave, as was naturally to be expected, 

 a large increase of straw, 4^- loads to the acre, 

 or 50 per cent, of increase ; and the figures of 

 the grain were still more satisfactory, being 

 inverted namely, 5 quarters and 3 bushels to 

 the acre. 



We should now consider the quantity of 

 sewage per acre which may be usefully applied 

 to crops of grass, roots, and vegetables, to 

 which the main bulk of the sewage must 

 always be applied. With regard to grass, I 

 have frequently had controversies with various 

 persons, including some well-known agricul- 

 turists, as to the proper kind of grass to which 

 to apply sewage, and also as to the proper 

 time of sowing the proper quantity of sewage 

 to be applied, and the result to be looked for. 

 Some persons have imagined that sewage can 

 be beneficially applied to ordinary natural 

 grasses year after year, and they cite the 

 Craigentinny meadows at Edinburgh as an ex- 

 ample; and cases have been brought to my 

 notice where I myself have been quoted as 

 supporting this notion ; but it is an idea which 

 I am altogether opposed to. The water and 

 manure, which together compose sewage, stim- 

 ulate the growth of all the hardier and ranker 

 kinds of natural grasses to such an extent that 

 in the course of time they choke and kill out 

 all the finer kinds, and the grass becomes the 

 rank, nasty stuff that we see at Craigentinny. 



Many persons imagine that sewage cannot 

 be applied to any crop without positive injury, 

 during hard frosts or snow ; but this is not the 

 ease. The sewage is always above the freez- 

 ing-point, and more so than ordinary running 

 water. The actual contact with the sewage 

 must, therefore, be beneficial to the plants in 

 protecting them from cold. 



The water supply of London, as proved by 

 the official returns, exceeds thirty gallons per 



head per diem. This would give upward of 

 48 tons of sewage per head in the course of a 

 year ; so that, if we take 50 tofts as an easy 

 calculation in round numbers for the quantity 

 of sewage per head flowing out of any town, 

 we shall not be very far wrong. In this way 

 5,000 tons would represent the sewage of 100 

 persons; so that, as the sewage of 100 persons 

 is the maximum amount that can be properly 

 utilized by a crop of Italian rye- grass, and as 

 the rye-grass can be grown only once in two 

 years, we should get fifty persons per acre as 

 the maximum proportion of population which 

 is at all safe to apply. But, of course, it never 

 would suit the convenience of any farmer to 

 grow nothing but a never-ending see-saw of 

 Italian rye-grass and potatoes. 



With regard to other crops, we have grown 

 52J- tons of mangold-wurzel per acre at the 

 Lodge Farm from the application of 1,100 tons 

 of sewage to land which was completely worked 

 out by white crops. Now, 1,100 tons would be 

 equal, according to the same rough calculation, 

 to the sewage of only 22 persons per acre. 



When I talk of YO tons per acre as a weight 

 of mangold which ought to be obtained every 

 season by the use of sewage, it is not such an 

 unreasonable thing as it at first appears. And 

 if we apply 2,000 tons per acre to a crop of 

 mangold, it would be equivalent roughly to 

 one acre for every 40 persons ; and my own 

 opinion is, that some such proportion should 

 be the very minimum of land which should be 

 laid out for the utilization of the sewage of 

 any town. And it would be greatly for the 

 advantage, both of the town and of the farmer, 

 if an increased area were put under, at all 

 events, the possibility of irrigation ; for, how 

 often would not the farmer, if his land were 

 laid out for it, be only too glad to give an 

 occasional dressing to a crop of wheat that 

 looked sickly after the March storms, to a crop 

 of turnips that he was afraid of losing from 

 the fly, or even to a crop of potatoes in a dry 

 summer ? 



And now a few words as to the money 

 value of town sewage. W T hen used for market- 

 garden vegetables its value is exceptionally 

 great, as the vegetables produced are of the 

 finest possible quality; being grown with 

 maximum rapidity, on which the quality of 

 vegetables specially depends. Now, it is well 

 known that market-gardeners apply from 10 

 to 20 worth of solid manure to the acre, 

 around London, at all events ; while, to pro- 

 duce the finest crops of cabbages, cauliflowers, 

 or celery, only takes from 500 to 1.000 tons of 

 sewage, according to the particular species of 

 seed used, and the particular age at which it is 

 desired to send the crop to market. Taking, 

 then, the highest of these quantities, or 1,000 

 tons as equal to the lowest value for a garden 

 dressing of ordinary manure, or 10 an acre, 

 we should have a total value of 2,400 pence 

 for 1,000 tons of sewage, or nearly 2|d. per 

 ton ; and I have no reason to suppose that this 



