SEWAGE. 269 



city like London or New- York can thus be trans- 

 muted into the means of fertilizing whole counties 

 in their vicinity. But the work is already well be- 

 gun, and another generation will see it all but com- 

 pleted. Meantime, many smaller cities, more eligibly 

 located for the purpose, are already enriching by 

 their Sewage the rural districts adjacent, which they 

 had previously tended strongly to impoverish. Edin- 

 burgh, the capital of Scotland, is among them. The 

 little village of Romford, England, is one of those 

 which have recently been made to contribute by 

 Sewage to this beneficent end ; and a visit of inspec- 

 tion paid to it, on the 15th of October last, by the 

 London Board of Works, elicited accounts of the 

 process and its results, in the London journals, which 

 afforded hints for and incitement to similar under- 

 takings in this and other countries undertakings 

 which may be postponed, but the only question is 

 one of time. The Dail/y News of Oct. 17th, says : 



" Breton's Farm consists of 121 acres of light and 

 poor gravelly soil ; and it now receives the whole 

 available sewage of the town of Romford that is, of 

 about 7,000 persons. This is conveyed to the land 

 by an iron pipe of 18 inches in diameter, which is 

 laid under ground, and discharges its contents into 

 an open tank. From this tank, the sewage is pump- 

 ed to a height of 20 feet, and is then distributed over 

 the land by iron or concrete troughs, or ' carriers,' 

 fitted with sluices and taps, so that the amount of 

 sewage applied to any given portion of the field can 



