CHAPTEE XIII 



MISCELLANEOUS ENQUIRIES 



I. Experiments upon Sewage Irrigation. 

 II. Experiments upon Malt and Barley. 



III. Experiments upon Ensilage. 



IV. The Composition of Wheat Grain and its Mill Products. 

 References. 



I. — Experiments upon Sewage Irrigation. 



From time to time the Eothamsted investigators were called 

 upon for work dealing with various debatable questions of 

 public importance more or less connected with agriculture. 

 For example, Lawes was appointed a member of the Royal 

 Commission which was charged in 1857 "to inquire into the 

 best mode of distributing the sewage of towns, and applying it 

 to beneficial and profitable uses." The application of sewage 

 to land was. naturally one of the subjects of enquiry, and was 

 entrusted to a sub-committee consisting of Lawes and Way^ 

 who carried on during 1861-64 experiments at Rugby on the 

 growth of grass Avith and without sewage treatment, and on 

 the value of the sewage-irrigated grass for feeding stock. The 

 experimental station at Rothamsted was much occupied ^vith 

 the suiDerintendence of these experiments and with the analytical 

 and statistical work involved. The general conclusion from the 

 experiments was that broadcast irrigation on grass land was 

 the best way of dealing with sewage, the highest returns being 

 obtained when large quantities of sewage, as much as 9000 

 tons per acre, were employed. 



