MANURES. 235 



" absence of rain, the rapid drying of the surface creates an up- 

 " ward capillary flow of the ground water. The matters which 

 " in rainy times follow the surface water to the depths, in drought 

 " follow the ground water to the surface. 



"The. safest mode of escaping the evils in question, hitherto 

 " adopted in closely-built towns, consists in removing all human 

 " excreta to a distance by subterranean sewerage. In paved cities 

 " the street hydrants, which, with the rains, wash the surface filth 

 " into a system of underdrains, and the water-closets which con- 

 " nect every house with the same, would seem to offer every 

 " immunity against the accumulation of fecal matters. The 

 " immunity is, in fact, very considerable in those cases where the 

 " system is well carried out ; where the water supply is sufficiently 

 " copious and the sewerage is promptly carried off to the sea. 

 " There always remain the objections that poverty cannot, and 

 " indolence will not, ' make the connections,' that sewers will 

 " leak, and rivers and harbors are made noisome with the rotten- 

 " ness that is poured into them. 



"The waste involved in the ' civilized' way of treating the 

 " materials under notice is immense. Every harvest brings from the 

 " country to the city, from the West to the East, vast bulk of beef, 

 " corn, and hay, whose use to the city people does not, for the 

 " most part, consist in any permanent giving of its elements, but 

 " which, after having weighted the wheel of life through half a turn 

 " and dropped off as waste, admits of conversion into food again, 

 " if but carried back to the fields. The gardeners and farmers in 

 " our immediate vicinity are obliged to disburse heavy sums each 

 " year for the phosphates and nitrogen which their crops demand 

 "and which their land cannot adequately supply. The guanos 

 " and fish-manures which are brought from a distance or manu- 

 " factured at heavy cost for their use, are in reality paid for not by 

 " them, but by those who purchase their produce in the city mar- 

 " kets. The animal who stands at the head of creation requires the 

 " richest food, and yields to the food-producer the richest return. 

 " It requires but little art to convert his excrement into increment, 

 "and the conversion may be made extremelv orofitable. 



