72 IRRIGATION. 



are probably two or three millions of individuals to whose 

 small occupations this system may be applied with a result 

 equaling at least a net amount of $100 per year, in each 

 case. The material that might be utilized, in most cases 

 now goes to waste or serves to vitiate the air and poison 

 the surrounding neighborhood. By thus turning it to 

 account, a benefit to the public health incalculable in dol- 

 lars and cents would result, and at the above reasonable 

 estimate a vast addition to the wealth and comfort of the 

 people besides. 



A plan for utilizing liquid manure upon gardens or 

 farms so situated as to surface that the manure may be 

 spread by gravitation, or flowed in furrows from a drain 

 issuing from the barn cellar, or from a tank in the barn- 

 yard, was described by Col. G. E. Waring, jr., of Ogden 

 Farm, Newport, E. I., in the American Agriculturist, 

 September, 1873. Mr. Waring taking his cue from the 

 method of utilizing the sewage of towns upon some Eng- 

 lish farms says: "A very important lesson for many 

 American farmers may be gleaned from the English ex- 

 periments in the use of sewage as manure. 



" Mr. Mechi, a well known English farmer, still adheres 

 to his old system of converting his manure (or much of 

 it) into a liquid form, storing it in a large tank where it 

 ferments, and forcing it (by steam-power) through under- 

 ground iron pipes for distribution over the land through 

 a hose. This system is not generally considered either 

 economical or advantageous. The plan adopted with sew- 

 age, in all cases which came to my notice, is that describ- 

 ed as in use at Lord Warwick's farm near Leamington. 



"While our climate precludes the possibility of using 

 winter sewage in this way, we might, in some cases, make 

 profitable use of summer sewage if we could get it with- 

 out too much cost. What most interests us in the matter, 

 is the suggestion that we may adopt a similar means for 

 the use of water as a distributing medium for manure. 



