66 REPORT — 1875. 



received on the farm from the town during the year was 482,335 tons, a con- 

 siderably larger amount than in previous years ; this is partly owing to the 

 fact that more houses have been connected with the sewers. 



The amount of effluent water added to the sewage and repumped on to the 

 land was 27,295 tons, making 509,630 tons as the amount of diluted sewage 

 received into the tanks; 491 tons of this were run into the river during es- 

 cessive flows, &c., and thus the total amount applied to the land was 509,139 

 tons. 



Tables IV., V., VI. and VII. correspond with similar tables in previous 

 Eeports ; but especial attention is dii-ected to the note at the foot of Table VI., 

 or a wrong idea may be given of the amount of crop produced per acre, espe- 

 cially in the ease of the Italian rye-grass. 



The total produce of the farm for the year was less (by about 200 tons) 

 than that of the previous one, and less also than the average of the three 

 preceding years, and this notwithstanding that the crops of Italian rye-grass 

 were really better and those of Mangold much better than those of the pre- 

 vious year : thus in 1873-74, 18-69 acres produced 1084-94 tons of Italian 

 rye-grass, or 58 tons per acre ; while in 1874-75, 13-95 acres produced 869 

 tons, or 62-3 tons per acre ; while as to Mangold, the crops in 1873-74 were 

 18-3 tons per acre, while in 1874-75 they were no less than 42-8 tons per 

 acre. 



The principal reasons for the decrease in the total weight of the crops 

 are: — 



I. The increase in the acreage of the cereal crops. 



II. The large quantity of land allowed to lie fallow during the winter, and 

 consequently the small quantity of winter greens grown as compared with 

 previous years. 



III. The fact that five crops (four of Eape and one of Turnips) were not 

 carried off the land but ploughed in, and that two others (of wheat) partially 

 failed. 



Prom the autumn of 1874 to the end of the cropping year (March 1875), 

 there were 38 J acres of land entirely fallow. In addition, four crops (=10| 

 acres) of Eape and one crop (=6| acres) of Turnips were ploughed in, and 

 the land, 17| acres in all, treated as fallow. Finally, 14 acres of grass were 

 ploughed in during March and April, having thus, so far as produce was 

 concerned, been practically fallow land ; making a total of 70 acres, ornearly 

 two thirds of the cultivated area of the farm, unproductive during the winter 

 months. 



On reference to Table VI. it will be seen that the aggregate acreage of aU 

 the crops was 130-42 as against 170-66 of the previous year, which further 

 illustrates the above statement ; and this quantity is also less than that of 

 the two other years recorded by the Committee. This is owing to the fact 

 that the system of cropping has been changed, since the census of the town 

 given in the Committee's Eeport for 1872-73 (Fifth Eeport) showed that 

 many of the houses in the town were not connected and many only partially 

 connected with the town sewer, so that it became necessaiy to manure a 

 much smaller area with the sewage. 



But an examination of the Tables given in the present and two previous 

 Eeports, whilst establishing the above facts, also shows that the weight per 

 acre of crops produced, and the amount of nitrogen estimated to be recovered 

 in them, was more in the year under review than in either of the two pre- 

 ceding years ; and the improvement in these respects has been progressive 

 during the three years, thus ; — 



