34 WORCESTER COUNTt HORTICtJLTtTRAL SOCIETY. [1870. 



the prairies of the West, by the population of this single City, to swell the 

 clam banks of Narragansett Bay. Devastation of the essential constituents of 

 the difiFerent varieties of fruits, advance with similar unthrift. Do we need to 

 inquire why our long-established orchards refuse to yield their increase, except- 

 ing only seasons like the present, in which the fierce stimulus of a torrid heat 

 compelled a growth that threatens final and utter exhaustion ? 



This whole subject, compared with which wars and rumors of wars are 

 dwarled into insignificance; this subject which involves in its ultimate relations 

 no less consequences than the future subsistence of entire nations, whereas 

 other matters but affect their prosperity or independence, has latterly forced 

 itself upon the attention of the People and Parliament of Great Britain. Tt is 

 felt that, without a speedy change, the land must continue to deteriorate ; its 

 produce to lessen with its impoverishment. Accordingly commissions are 

 formed, investigations set on foot, experiments prosecuted. Note the basis on 

 which they proceed ! 



" It is unquestionable that so well fed an animal as man ought to be good farm stock. 

 Compared with the sheep, he is little better fed, and he takes less out of his food. Take 

 any given human population ; its average weight is a pretty constant quantity and it 

 increases not more than two per cent, annually. The total weight of the population of 

 England increases not more than two per cent: that is all that man saves out of his 

 year's food in this country. On the other hand, the total weight of a flock of sheep 

 will increase in weight from forty to sixty per cent, in the same time. There is a 

 smaller waste of poorer food in the case of sheep than in the case of man ; and yet the 

 former is the best farm stock we have for maintaining the fertility of land, and the latter 

 is, in this respect, virtually good for nothing. What can be the explanation of this 

 anomaly ? The whole excrement of the sheep-fold is deposited on the land which it is 

 to benefit, while the whole waste from our houses finds its way into the river." Et sic 

 pasaivi. 



Observe now the actual result of an attempt to utilize sewerage by irrigation, 

 thus saving what would otherwise be lost and restoring to the earth much of 

 which it had been robbed. The town, or borough of Romford, England, having 

 made purchase of a farm for the purpose of experiment, a party of gentlemen 



" visited the premises on the ninth day of August last, and had their attention 

 drawn to a piece of Italian rye grass, sown on March nineteenth, since which 

 time four crops have been cut, averaging seven and one-half tons per acre, and 

 selling for £1 per ton on the ground. Close by was a piece of Dalmahoy po- 

 tatoes, planted on April second, which were producing upwards of one and one- 

 half hundred weight per rod, and worth about £25 per acre. Some beans and 

 peas sown on April second, produced — the former £d and the latter <£15, without 

 the straw. Another piece of rye grass, sown April ninth, will be ready to cut 

 for the fourth time in a few days. Adjoining were about four acres of trans- 

 planted mangel wurzel looking rank and strong. Another crop of the same 

 kind exhibited some very fine roots, many of the ylohes being two feet in cir- 

 cumference, and some of the ' long ' two feet in length." 



" Close by was a crop of intermediate carrots, about four acres in extent, 



