168" 



JOTTBNAL OF HOETICULTU^E AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. [ Fcbrunry 28, im. 



and trained agiiiust an Oxfordsliiro stone wall. Thoso of 

 juy neighbour have a good brick wall, and a capital border 

 three tunes the width of ours. A largo amount of stabla- 

 iJung is put on it, and it is deeply dug and heavily cropped 

 with vegetables all the year round, and what uninutilated 

 roots remain are, of coui-se, growing or rotting in the snb- 

 Boil ; crude salts must be chiefly the result ; so the fruit 

 " tasted as if watered with sewage." It opens np a wide 

 field for thought and observation, however. 



I felt proud, too, to find some of ray productions so well 

 Spoken of at hcad-quai'tcrs, and if I were to write what I 

 have since lieard of the remainder I might, perhaps, be 

 thought conceited : so to proceed. " YouifQ Beginner " 

 Bsys that his se^vage consists of all the slops of the house, 

 xaia water being otherwise disposed of. Are wo, then, to con- 

 aider that this sewage is compounded with the water from a 

 ■weU ? Silica, lime, magnesia, and alumina are denominated 

 pure earths, and plants cannot grow in them when watered 

 with chemically pure water, and when the water is drawn 

 fcom a spring it is generally comparatively pure. But when 

 the pure earths, mentioned above, either united or singly, 

 axe watered with rain water, vegetation will then be sup- 

 ported by the ammonia which the rain water contains ; and 

 that is a chief reason why the latter is so much to be 

 preferred to that from a spring. However, ammoniaoal 

 niinglings in plenty n-oiild be mixed up in the purest water 

 in the state of sewage. I merely mention the circumstance 

 XB. passing as showing a distinction between pure and rain 

 water, because the sewage that I nse is mixed up erclu- 

 sively with the latter, and should this not be so in the 

 case of "Young Beginner" it is a point of diiference, and 

 so. far the sewage is of less value for plant life. Ho next 

 says, as " points of diS'erence," that "his ground is newly 

 broken up, and the subsoil a neai'ly-pnre sand;" but he 

 isea not say of what nature the sm-fece is. At any rate 

 is is not sand, and the subsoil being so, it is one of the 

 bast for the surface soil to rest on, as it will natui-ally 

 secure a good drainage. Again, as the soil is " newly 

 broken" up, I conclude it to have been turf, which is 

 ajifio fortunate, as it is full of the decaying roots of the 

 grass and other organic substances, which, with the assist- 

 ance of sewage in a light soil, will insure production. I 

 empty my tanks regularly as they become iilled through- 

 out the year, and during the winter months I apply their 

 contents to the Broccoli tribe and to evergreen shrubs, 

 because their roots at that time are comparatively active 

 to. receive the benefit; but the plan actually adopted by 

 " Young Beoinnee " is " to throw the contents of the tank 

 am land intended for spring cropping," which, I beg to in- 

 form him, is by no means " equivalent to wasting" it. Stag- 

 saat water on an undrained soil wiU dissolve the richest 

 ae^ble portions, and thus surcharged eveiy flush of land 

 w«fcer would caiTy them off. Not so, however, the well- 

 ifcained ground, for it will like a filter take from the sewage 

 ■Fatter all that is suitable for the growth of plants, and tUl 

 such time aa the plants are there to partake of it the soil 

 will hold this fast. Of that practice and science have left 

 no doubt. Some of the richest water meadows in this 

 country are formed on subsoils of broken flints, gravel, and 

 sand. 



It is difficult to state how "much land can be manured 

 by 8000 or 10,000 gallons," about 40 tons of sewage. In the 

 first place it would depend upon the nature of the land. 

 Sandy or gravelly soils however bountifully watered would 

 "Jty out lor " more ! " We are informed through the press, 

 Hiait the quantities of sewage given per acre eveiy year 

 in different localities has varied from 8000 tons down to 

 22!> tons ; and the worth of the sewage per head is very 

 foriouBly calculated at from £1 8s. down to 3x. 2t'l. per 

 annum. We want proper chemical analyses to decide the 

 faluc of the sownge of different towns. Aa more reliable 

 data, we read that at Croydon by the use of sewage the 

 increase of the value of land per acre ranges from X5 to 

 £IZ ; and at Mansfield, land worth formerly only 3s. per 

 a«re, now lets for X12. At Edinburgh, the sewage has 

 keen carried over aome meadows for more than sixty years ; 

 and some portions of those meadows, formerly baiTcn sea 

 Hand, have become valuable property, and crops are now 

 •old from off them annually realising from JE20 to JJ38 per 

 Ticrc. Three hundred and twenty-five acres are there devoted 



to the sewage escaping from half the modern Athens, about 

 80,000 people ! 



The extract quoted by " Young Beginner" I con vouch 

 for. According to my own practice and observation, no limit 

 o;m be imposed on the words, " any time before ;" and that 

 sewage can be most profitably applied to grass, the Earl 

 of Essex gives evidence as follows : — " During the winter, 

 from October to January, or longer, I apply it to meadowafor 

 hay, two dressings per acre, with about 50,000 gallons — i. «., 

 265 tons. I have done this now two winters, and tlie increase 

 of hay, both in quantity and quality is most extraordinary." 

 An analysis by Mr. Way has also revealed to us, " That 

 grasses irrigated with sewage contain 100 per cent, more 

 meat-making matter than grasses not irrigated." Again: 

 the Earl of Essex: writes : — " In 1857, I had nearly seven 

 acres of Wurtzel almost entirely taken by the fly, and during 

 intensely hot and dry weather I transplanted five acres with 

 the assistance of seilllge, and, although a transplanted 

 crop, it was the largest I ever had, over 43 tons per acre." 

 Mr. G. Shepherd, C.E., writes — "I have myself made ex- 

 periments on Turnip seed with town sewage, with the most 

 satisfactory results. As soon as the seed was sown, the land- 

 was irrigated with sewage, the seed immediately germinated 

 into strong, healthy plants, and were out of danger from 

 the Turnip fly before the seed not irrigated made its ap- 

 pearance above ground." 



1 could quote many more passages to the same effect, but 

 I will now return to my humble garden at Woodstock, which 

 "Fruit-eater" rightly conjectures to be in "the upper 

 valley of the Thames," the soil here being a sound gravelly 

 loam, 2.\ feet deep, resting upon a clay. I find 300 gallons 

 of sewage to the 46 square yards is sufiicieHt to saturate it 

 completely; and this operation twice performed is equal to 

 66,000 gallons, or 310 tons 12 cwt. per acre. But I do not 

 understand, when I stated this, how it should " seem to lead 

 to discouraging results ? " If others are better ofl' than 

 myself I do not see why those fortuitous circumstances 

 should discourage me. I hold fast to what I have and 

 make the best of it. If I had six times as much sewage as 

 this household affords I could use it on the gai-den, and let 

 the holdings be large or small, I prophesy this will be the 

 feeling of most people in a few years. I have only suflicient 

 sewage in the summer to give to the most important crops, 

 and then only at the times when they are the most im- 

 mediately benefited by it. Like " Young Beginner," the 

 want of more may create in me " unwelcome feelings," but 

 let us persevere and wait on Providence. Perhaps someday 

 a sewage company, limited, will convey their mains, with 

 branch pipes leading from them, near our dwellings ? To^vn 

 sewage although more largely diluted with water, is enriched 

 by animals and from many other sources, and I consider 

 the quality would be equal to the best of mine. 



The question, " How to dispose of the winter accumula- 

 tion ? " being answered, I would stiU advise " Y'oung Be- 

 ginner," if he has aome years' certainty and feels an interest 

 in his place of residence, to make the extra tank to hold 

 3000 gallons, for if it wore only to store that quantity of 

 rain water to provide against di-ought at the time his fruit 

 was ripening, it would prove a good investment. The method 

 of procedure stated for a sandy subsoil would be neceBsary, 

 and it would take all the money. I do not find it cost more 

 th.an half that, proportionately, to make a tank here, for 

 the subsoil being a retentive clay the outside lining with 

 puddling can be dispensed with. We have also plenty of 

 stone, which when bedded in good lime mortar, pointed 

 when meant for sewage, and lined, for holding water, with a 

 mixture of Portland cement and fine-sifted gravel, we find 

 to answer. Our water-tank last formed, is excavated below 

 the clay a foot deep into the rock, and if it had been made 

 deeper, under these circumstances, I should have considered 

 puddling necessary facing the rock, on account of the fissures 

 in it. As it was, I caused the bottom to be well rammed-in 

 with 6 inches deep of rather dry clay in small portions by 

 degi-ees, and with not too largo a rammer (oven for outside 

 puddling dryiah clay well rammed would bo preferable to 

 wet puddle, as the latter is apt to crack afterwards), finish- 

 ing it off slightly concave, and on it was spread a layer of 

 mortar, and on that were laid Ijricks on bed well set in 

 cement. The mason was new to the work, and mixed the 

 cement with too coarsely silted sand, and the consequence 



