632 



SEWAGE. 



is at all beyond what a market-gardener could 

 afford to pay. having regard to the superior 

 result which lie obtains. And it is somewhat 

 curious that this value does not differ very 

 considerably from the only reliable valuation 

 that was ever made of the chemical ingredients 

 in town sewage. To be on the safe side, I 

 have always taken Id. a ton as the standard 

 price at which the Metropolis Sewage Com- 

 pany should sell the sewage to the farmer; 

 and a very few rough calculations will show 

 that this is a very safe estimate indeed. 



To take the case of Italian rye-grass. We 

 have seen that 90 to 100 tons of grass ought 

 to be grown from 5,000 tons of sewage in the 

 course of one entire growing season. Now, 

 5,000 tons at Id. are equal to 20 16s. 8d., to 

 which we must add, say 4 an acre for rent 

 and taxes ; 1 an acre for application of sew- 

 age, interest on improvement expenditure, and 

 other small items ; the mowing of ten crops a 

 year by machine (for which I may mention the 

 rye-grass is particularly suitable) at 3s., 1 10s. ; 

 carting 100 tons to the homestead at 6d., 2 

 10s. ; or a total of 29 16s. 8d. say, 30. 



If we take such a crop as mangold- wurzel 

 and apply 2,000 tons at Id., we have a charge 

 for sewage of 8 6s. 8d. per, acre ; taking the 

 same figures of 4 for rent and taxes, and 1 

 for application of sewage, etc., 30s. for culti- 

 vation, 10s. for seed, 10s. for hoeing, and 70s. 

 for harvesting TO tons of roots, we have a 

 total charge of 19 6s. 8d. per acre, and taking 

 the same price of 15s. per ton for the value of 

 the food obtained, we have a total yield of 52 

 10s. per acre, or a net balance to the farmer of 

 33 3s. 4d. ; and, as we have produced 52| tons 

 of mangold at the Lodge Farm from 1,100 tons 

 of sewage, it is not going too far in reckoning 

 upon 70 tons of mangold from 2,000 tons of 

 sewage. 



It may be objected that I am dealing with 

 the sewage of a great city, and not of a small 

 town ; but though the rainfall is less in Lon- 

 don in proportion to the population, yet the 

 water supply is greater, and the two together 

 give 75 or 80 tons of sewage per head per an- 

 num, instead of 50 ; so if this diluted sewage 

 is of the value I have described, surely a sew- 

 age equal to only 50 tons per head per annum 

 cannot be worth less. Now, 50 tons at Id. are 

 equal to 4s. 2d. ; at 2d. 8s. 4d. ; and at 2d. 

 10s. 5d. ; so that as the urban population of 

 England, living in towns of 2,000 inhabitants 

 and upward, exceeds ten millions, and as almost 

 all these towns are duly polluting the rivers 

 in conformity with the "Towns Improvement 

 Act, 1847," they are propagating scarlet fever 

 and typhus at a direct cost to the towns of 

 5,000,000 a year, in addition to the indirect 

 loss to the land and to the working-classes ; so 

 that we may reckon the loss to the country in 

 gold exported to pay for foreign manure, grain, 

 beef, mutton, hides, wool, bacon, butter, and 

 cheese, at not less than 15,000,000 sterling 

 annually. 



SMITH, TOULMIN. 



SMITH, TOTJLMLN-, an eminent English pub- 

 licist, constitutional lawyer, and Scandinavian 

 scholar, born in Birmingham, May 29, 1816; 

 died at Lancing, Sussex, England, April 28, 

 1869. He was a descendant of an old and hon- 

 orable family of Birmingham, his ancestors 

 having been for five hundred years property- 

 holders in that town. His father was an active 

 educational reformer and writer. The family 

 were Dissenters. Mr. Toulmin Smith received 

 a very thorough education in the excellent 

 schools of Birmingham, and, possessing ex- 

 traordinary abilities and application, early dis- 

 tinguished himself. In 1835, when but nine- 

 teen years of age, he prepared an elaborate 

 "Introduction to the Latin Language," and in 

 1836 published " A Popular View of the Prog- 

 ress of Philosophy among the Ancients." At 

 an early age he had commenced the study of 

 the Scandinavian languages, literature, history, 

 and politics, and, at the age of twenty-three 

 or four, was one of the most accomplished 

 Scandinavian scholars in Great Britain. In 

 1837, Mr. Smith sailed for the United States, 

 where he remained five years. During his 

 residence there, he published a volume of great 

 labor and research, but one which has made 

 his name famous on both sides of the sea, 

 " On the Discovery of America by the Northr 

 men in the Tenth Century." The work was 

 accompanied by maps and plates, and has, ever 

 since its publication, in 1839, been considered 

 the standard authority on that subject. The 

 most eminent American historians have quoted 

 it, and it was the ground of his election as a 

 corresponding member of the Society of North- 

 ern Antiquaries, at Copenhagen, a well-de- 

 served tribute to his ability and carefulness of 

 research. On his return to Europe, he de- 

 voted himself very sedulously to the study of 

 constitutional and Old Saxon law, and became 

 an acknowledged master of both. He was 

 not called to the bar till 1849, but the same 

 year published a treatise, in which, with great 

 learning and power, he demonstrated that 

 " Government by Commissions was illegal and 

 pernicious," and a few months later, in his 

 "Parallels between the Constitution and Con- 

 stitutional History of England and Hungary," 

 enlightened the nation concerning the political 

 history of the Magyars, and evoked an earnest 

 sympathy for the great Hungarian leader. In 

 1854, as the result of long and patient study 

 and research, he published his great work, 

 " The Parish : its Obligations and Powers, its 

 Officers and their Duties," a masterly treatise 

 on the whole history of organization and de- 

 velopment of the parish, from the earliest 

 Saxon records to the present time. This work, 

 which has passed- through several editions, 

 is an admirable contribution to the history 

 of local self-government, and of the foun- 

 dations of English liberty. In 1855 he pre- 

 pared a treatise of great practical value, " The 

 Law of Nuisances and Sewerage Works." In 

 1859 he published " The Eight Holding of the 



