W> 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



-the product r * of milk and the 



inditioo. The former is the 



ioo<\ supplied be inadequate for 



lion in u 4 lur fot 



maintenance i>r bet 



favourite one j i the 



both purptM* the dwec«w *nmi»uio -*« «.*«•_ .- 



the milk, in which she strives to maintain the natural 



proportion of coi huents, at the expense of her Heah, 



far, aril probably also of her phosphates or bone 



material. This we see daily exemplified in the dairy 



cows kept near large towns, which are bought in full 



condition, and after undergoing a course of milking, are 



«oM off, greatly reduced. I ain clearly of opinion that 



hitherto, in philosophy as well as in practice, the value 



4>t substances, rich in nitrogenous or protein com- 



ipound«, has been under estimated, and too little of them 



used as auxiliaries for food, for cows giving milk ; 



whilst for purposes of fattening: have been too much 



.relied on, and used too freely, Y. 



&otitt\&. 



Society of Arts, March 8 and ID.— On the Sewage of 

 London. — The agricultural relations of this subject were 

 discussed more fully on the second day devoted to its 

 consideration. The discussion, as reported in the 

 Journal of the Society, extends to an unusual length, 

 and we can find room for the remarks of onlv two 

 or three of the speakers. The general scope of the 

 debate, along with a condensed report of two or three 

 more of the speeches that were made, we hope to give 

 next week. 



Professor Wat stated that from the great pains and 



-iron 1 ;' vbieh Mr. Lawes and his aide coadjutor Dr. 



Gilbert had taken, as well as from his own experiments 



on this subject, that there could now be no doubt as to 



the composition and value of sewage. Mr. Lawes 



bad arrived at the same results which, by a different 



road, he (Professor Way) arrived at some two or three 



years »gu — that was— in determining the value of the 



sewage by a direct reference to the composition of the 



excrements, and within a very trifle the results which he 



arrived at agreed with those of Mr. Lawes* Mr. 



Lawes had found that 2 ounces of solid matter were 



daily ejected by each individual of the population 



taking males and females and people of all ages and 

 classes 



their ject to seek the high-lying land.J jThen he would 

 say a in, a great and an increasingly acknowledged 

 principle was that they should manure the land and not 

 the crop. It was not necessary, even in the case of 

 liquid manure, that the crop should be on the land when 

 the manure was applied. He believed there was abun- 

 dant practical experience to show that liquid containing 

 manuring qualities produced its effects twelve months 

 after its application, although it might be supposed to 

 have run through before the crop was put on. But they 

 had independent evidence of that fact, and here he must 

 be allowed to refer to his own investigations upon this 

 subject. He had found that soils removed nearly every 

 particle of manuring matter from solutions which were 

 filtered through them, allowing the water to run away 

 and leaving the fertilising properties in the soil, and this 

 proved that liquid manure might be applied to the soil 

 without fear of losing the fertilising substances which it 

 contained, although no crop was on the land at the time, 

 a view of the subject which tended very widely to en- 

 large the opportunities for the application of liquid sewage 

 manure. It was not necessary to be applied to the crop 

 on the land, but they might take advantage of any 

 favourable opportunity that presented itself for putting 

 the sewage on. It was not for him to say to what 

 description of crops sewage could be most profitably 

 applied. All he said was, they ought to apply it to the 

 land, rather than to the crop when it was on the land. 

 He thought at present that principle was not properly 

 understood. He would say a few words as to the quan- 



was gained. 



hear. ) 



now be said to rest with the engineer, 

 can construct his works so as to deliver sewagjfc^ 

 hvdrants in the farmers' fields for 2d. a ton the ^ 



For even though the water had but %«!! 

 small portion of actual manure, who would not uC 

 i__j _i. j -_-. l ,»._ > fop an abundant supply ^ 



An inch of rain in the* 

 of May might save the hay crop ; and, at 2d. m \* 

 this could then be had at a cost of 16s. M. The*W 

 tage of the water manure drill was well known in tk 



lire* estimate was excessive. He had said 10,000 H"* ° f ~ Water > »* a C0St ° f 4 * 2d ' an acre < mi «>» ■* 

 tons of sewage ought to be applied per acre. This 

 amounted to something like the excrement of 1 00 people ; 



London sewage at 2d. a ton must bTchp 

 guano pays to be washed in with 100 tonsc? 1 ^ 



You have the cost of the guano, 2 cwt at 11* r ? ****** 

 Cost of applying 100 tons of water by water-cart at 



j 



fe, 



24* 



Against 140 tons of sewage at 2d. 



• • • 



••• 



• *• 



1 



I 

 ft 





I 



7 



{ 



Showing a saving by the use of sewage of 



(Provided the sewage is equally valuabiein its'"" 



The position of the metropolis aud other ]L 

 was highly favourable to the use of th i 8 m a g * ^ 

 within a circle of 10 miles, the land is chiefly unl^r^ 

 and market gardens, to both of which sewage n,..!^ 

 be applied with peculiar advantage. And when 

 spoke of the danger of using so large a quanta ^ 

 liquid to crops, it was not considered that ItaliJ r 

 grass, under this system, yielded five crops in ^* 

 and could therefore absorb with advantage a^ 

 larger supply of liquid than a single corn crop (U* 



He thought the solution of the question t£u 

 "~"" JX '^ """ " If the ^ 





water at certain seasons 2 



together 



now if they made a calculation of the quantity of solid 

 matter which 10 people would supply, they would find 

 this would amount to twice the value of a good dressing 

 of manure — that was, 10 people would, in a year, 

 produce the ammonia and other matter equal to the fer- 

 tilising value of between 5 cwt. and 6 cwt. of guano. 

 He believed that manure was more effective in a liquid 

 than in a solid state ; and if they put on, as Mr. Lawes 

 suggested, manuring matter equal to 2 or 3 tons of 

 guano per acre, it would be wasting manure and doing 

 harm rather than good. He repeated, he thought Mr. 



and that three and a half tenths of! Lawes's estimate of the quantity per acre was much too 

 nitr mi were ejected in the same matter. He (Professor high, and he thought it was a duty to the agriculturists 

 Way) found it to be 2\ ouuees as against Mr. Lawes's to show that the sewage of a town could be profitably 

 2 ounces of solid matter and "jjAths of an ounce of applied to a much larger area, 

 nitrogen, which within a minute quantity agreed with rTu *ji4~.;. ~r *r o ** * . T . , ■ , . , 



Mr I.J^.M.nU », .i v „ J r J 7 . [The address of Mr. Scott we must postpone. It related to the 



Air. lawts s results. He thought, therefore, the question alleged unwholesomeness. both to man and beast, of the irriga- 



of the average composition of sewage water was set at I tion method of applying manure.] 



rest, and that so far the subject was exhausted ; for j Mr. Caird considered the conclusion which the pre- 

 when two persons came nearly to the same point by dif- ceding speaker had arrived at, regarding the alleged 

 ferent rrguh he thought it might be considered that unwholesomeness of Grass produced by liquid manure, 

 they had arrived at truthful results. If, therefore, he to be without adequate foundation. Pleuro-pneumonia 

 agreed with the data of Mr. Lawes. he could not affected cows fed in every way. It had no doubt been most 



virulent in towns where the stock are crowded together 

 and the air foul ; but, on farms, he had seen it equally 

 fatal whether the stock were fed on artificial Grass or 

 natural Grass, whether forced by irrigation or pastured 

 in the field. It seemed to be generally admitted that, 

 with our present knowledge, it is impracticable to make 

 a solid manure of high value from sewage, and the plan 

 hinted at by Mr. Ward of separating the valuable portion 

 from the rain water might be open to the fatal objection 

 of so rendering the small sewers detrimental to health. 

 Any result of that kind would be infinitely more injurious 

 that even the total waste of the sewage under the present 

 system. The conclusion seemed to be that the sewage 

 of London possesses no money value except as a liquid 

 manure. He was not aware of any facts yet pub- 

 lished which showed that value satisfactorily. The 

 report of the Board of Health, so far as he 

 could recollect, gave many instances of the advan- 

 tage of farm sewage but none of London sewage 

 If we take Professor Way's estimate of the solid and 

 liquid excrements contained in London sewage, we find 

 it to be one in 1 400. If that one is equal in quality to 

 Peruvian guano, then 140 tons of sewage would supply 

 as much manure as 2 cwt. of guano, with the water to 

 wash it in besides. Now this quantity at the price men- 

 tioned by Mr. Chadwick, 2d. per ton, costs almost 



hesitate to agree also with the general conclusion ag to 

 the gross value of sewage water. He also agreed with 

 Mr. Lawes that solid manure could not be profitably 

 fnade from sewage. He regretted to have to s'ate an 

 opinion of this kind, when adverse to the interest-* of 

 the many persons engaged in trying to make solid 

 mauure from that source; but at the same time he 

 thought it did not become any one whose opinion was of 

 any weight at all to allow people to go on with those 

 schemes when their success was opposed to all know- 

 ledge and experience on the subject. He therefore said 

 tmhe itingly that any existing plan for the production 

 of solid manure from sewage water would be a failure. 

 He said this from a knowledge of the fact, that of the 

 'valuable matters contained in sewage water nine-tenths 

 exist in a liquid state, and these could not be separated 

 by any known process of filtration, nor could they be 

 precipitated by any substance which they had at present 

 at command. Taking it for granted, then, that 

 sewage must be supplied in a liquid condition, there 

 were two principles to be borne in mind. One was 

 that the proper place for its application was not 



usually the land to which it naturally ' 



i i i • L j. e ca * €S 0Ut of ten these were heavv cla y 



lands, which did not require sewage. If well drained 

 they would he naturally rich lands, and if not drained 



Sh e rfn U v T ^ a ^ ,l€d u t0 *? m - But the lands exactly the same money as 2 cwt of guano \ri77z "£17 

 :2&T^ M***» - compa- But the water itself is' of very Z^^t^^i 



as this : that the problem had two heads to work it, 

 ro sets of shoulders to bear it — the agriculturist at the 



flowed. 



ratively high-lying, lands, in which there was a fair 

 admixture of sand and gravel, which would take in the 

 sewage and allow it to pass through. He did not mean 

 to say any sandy soils, but lands of a medium character 

 which benefitted by manure of all kinds ; and, therefore, 

 He said that they should endeavour not to go to the 

 natural outfall, but to produce an artificial outfall, if 

 Uiat could be done at a moderate and reasonable amount 



?n ^ P ^ nSe ' U *■■ the ^ r °f er P ,an to P***&>» and 

 SL a - g a more extended area was obtained for 

 tfte deposit of the sewage. It had been stared in 



hZnVJF* 1 l hi8 di8CUS9i °"> and he had elsewhere 

 gallons ot water could be done for a shilling, raising it 



Chadwick's repS' n"';/™ ^ m ° De ° f ™ 



gallons of water t r da V 'th V*** 1? ^ Consumed 2 

 Milan* * ™r T ™y».**t *<>uld amount to 

 gallons a year for each individual 



gwons would represent that quantity These Ronon 

 #dlons would be raised to the hiaher level Turn £ ♦ 

 the expense of l,. f and if twice K ?u U ° fcetat 

 were Sowed, * or fc .oSj^? Z\&V*T^ 

 joet of manuring an acre of fand ^SS 

 •nth a low level. He therefore would SZ Tf^. 



100 feet in 



0,000 

 If the urine and 



Grass crop in the dry months of summer. Is the one 

 then, m sewage, equal in value to the same weight of 

 guano ? That is a point to be determined by analysis 

 and actual experiment. If it can be satisfactorily proved 

 there cannot be a doubt of the agricultural benefit of 

 London sewage so applied. Even should it be of some- 

 what lea* value, the water in which it floats may make 

 np the difference x\lr. Pusey has shown the enormous 

 produce his meadows in Berkshire yield by the a PP u! 

 cation of water alone. In Ayrshire, Mr. Morton tells 

 ns, that the use of lar^e quantities of water in washing 

 m guano to Italian Ryegrass was found to g™ 21 

 cuttings instead of one where the same quantity of Kuano 

 was applied dry. We all know the value of a shower 

 of ram m dry hot weather, and if we had the poweTof 

 throwing on something better than rain when weTked 

 H would be well worth payi Dg for. But it may no 

 doubt, be said, why not use the water which you can 

 get for nothing on your farm instead of payinffi" 

 He had no doubt that this might occasion *i v i i 

 with great advantage in washing ^^0^^ 

 Rye-grass. But it could not be done for n ot h L 

 trial which he had made with horses, watitS a 

 tank. h« fnnnil that t« «...«. ~ ' ale * barrels, and 



the difference between success and failure m startb 

 the Turnip crop. But let them not blame the 8^2 

 of the farmers, as had been done by a speaker in2 

 previous night's discussion, for any part of the fail* 

 of this system hitherto. It was quite a mistake to 

 suppose that as individuals the farmers areaTffieto 

 the introduction of improvements, or unable to compn. 

 hend their value, or incapable of appreciating their own 

 interests. Let the gentleman who thinks them a 

 simple try them by dealing with them. Look at tin 

 rapidity with which they adopted guano as a manur*. 

 In 1841 it was scarcely known : in 1845 nearly 300,W§ 

 tons, at a cost of 2 millions sterling, were used 1 

 the farmers of this country. Prove to them, aa deify 

 as guano has proved itself, that you can give tbema 

 valuable manure for even less money, and you will hire 

 a demand larger than you can supply. (Cheers.) 



[We postpone for a week the condensed report, which is ail* 

 can obtain room for, of speeches by Mr. Paine and other gemfe* 

 men who subsequently addressed the meeting.] 



Mr. Wren Hoskyns confessed that, from the general 

 testimony that had been elicited in the course of the 

 debate, from practical and scientific speakers, both a 

 to the precise value and the engineering availability to 

 the agriculturist of sewage manure, the hopes he iu 

 always encouraged upon the subject had received lea 

 confirmation than the fears he had latterly been led to 

 admit. Still, the problem appeared to him not with- 

 out hope. And the ground upon which he founded 

 was 



tw 



one end, and the sanitary commissioner on the other, 

 both equally and interestedly bent upon its solution. 

 "Nothing will ever be undertaken," says the poet fob 

 to Rassefas, " if all difficulties must be first overcome. 

 He felt an instinctive assurance that this subject wooa 

 not end with this night's discussion ; the que** 

 was too important, and the parties interested in itt » 

 many, to forbid the belief that further knowW 

 and research would be brought to bear on it, *» 

 further opportunity of its discussion afforded at sow 

 future day. He would admit that his mind was m 

 unprepared altogether for the low estimate wbf 

 chemical analysis had conclusively disclosed in J" 

 case of sewage manure. There were, it seemed to m 

 reasons calculated to mislead a judgment formed otfj 

 from the physical sense, as to the fertilising value o! 

 manure. For obvious reasons no animal consum 

 little food, in proportion to the living bulk, ** "j 

 whilst in no animals were the resulting ? r S auIse ^j t i 1 * 

 so important and expensive, physiologically sp^Z 

 Four pounds of new blood in the 24 hours (the qu» ^ 

 produced from the food of a healthy man), was» ^ 

 draw upon less, on an average, than a pound c • 

 with the relative proportion of farinaceous and vege*j 

 food ; and though from this, of course, a w " 91 ^ 

 residuum passed off in excretion, still, after du i ^ 

 ance for respiration and perspiration, the W^^g^J 

 in the formation of new tissue suggested, d ^^^ril 

 for somewhat disappointing results in the ag ^ 

 value of the manure. In illustration of this W- ^ 

 referred to some recent experiments at ti ^ 

 Lunatic Asylum, in Warwickshire, the sewage <^ ^ 

 when distributed over the surrounding sod, -^ 

 circumstances peculiarly favourable for the e P^ 

 seemed to have produced results in no de S r ^. 9S ^ 

 surate with the anticipations based upon ^^ q ^ 

 of the nuisance exnerienced nrior to its uti 



the soil. 



i m iuuuu umt io pump, carry 

 distance of onlv 120 va.™** « 



ow 



jriadlure, Past and Present. Being two » ^^ 

 Lectures delivered in the University m ■ c0 atf 

 By John Wilson, F.RS.E., Professor ot »» 



in the University of Edinburgh 

 These lectures present, in a condense! 

 and compendious form, first the history 



ipreteD 



jH 



