58 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



vastly to the comfort and convenience of man, and cannot be 

 abolished. The public must take care of the consequences. 



Now, it is clear to my mind, as presented by this paper, 

 that the only solution of this problem for all our interior 

 cities is to make arrangements so that this material can be 

 used, substantially as explained by the speaker, upon land 

 suitable for the purpose ; that it is not difficult to find land 

 which is exceedingly well adapted to this mode of cultiva- 

 tion. In Massachusetts there are two causes operating 

 against it. One is, the peculiar nature of our soil, and the 

 other, the irregularity of our climate. Very few people, 

 in trying irrigation, make sufficient allowance for the element 

 of relative temperature as well as moisture. The value of 

 water upon land for irrigation is dependent entirely upon 

 the relative condition of the air with regard to temperature 

 and moisture. Consequently we must consider those aspects. 

 But I do not believe there is any place in Massachusetts, of 

 less than fifty thousand inhabitants, where, with the exercise 

 of intelligence and ordinary skill, this material cannot be 

 utilized, and be utilized well, and in such a way as to con- 

 duce to the health and comfort of the community, by the 

 removal of a serious cause of offence, and to turn their sew- 

 age, which is much richer in proportion than the sewage 

 of the city of Boston, to a valuable use, instead of allowing 

 it to go to waste, as they do now. 



In regard to the dilution of sewage : The city of London 

 consumes twenty-eight gallons of water daily, per capita. 

 Of course, there is no more water running away from the 

 city in the sewers than enters it from the pipes supplying 

 water for domestic and manufacturing purposes. In Boston 

 we consume eighty or ninety gallons per capita. Conse- 

 quently, the sewage of Boston is diluted three times as 

 much as the sewage of London. 



One difficulty in the use of this material on land is this : 

 that Ave have but a few months in the year when we need irri- 

 gation. The farmers of Gennevilliers have this material 

 given to them. It is carried across the river, lifted into the 

 delivery pipes, or canals, and each man has as much as he 

 wants, and when he wants it, without charge. But is there 

 a farmer in New England who could pay the city of Boston 



