1922.] Town Refuse as Manure. 685 



THE POSSIBILITY OF USING TOWN 

 REFUSE AS MANURE. 



Sir John Russell, D.Sc, F.R.S., 

 Rothamsted Experimental Station. 



In recent years the shortage of town stable manure has com- 

 pelled farmers who used to rely on this material to cast about 

 for substitutes. Among the various possibilities is to be reckoned 

 ashpit refuse, which is available in large quantities but is at 

 present used to a very limited extent. Most of us have seen 

 and smelt the huge refuse dumps that have grown up round 

 London, and if the fertiliser value could be assessed by the 

 disagreeable odour the case for town refuse would be sufficiently 

 convincing. As might be expected, there is an increasing 

 reluctance on the part of country people to allow the countryside 

 to be disfigured in this way. A less objectional method than 

 that of dumping in country districts is to incinerate the 

 refuse, but this is costly, and of course is sheer waste. 

 More up-to-date town authorities are now making an effort to 

 dispose of their refuse in a better and more useful way, and 

 some are adding other wastes and crushing the whole for use as 

 a fertiliser. 



Present Use as Manure. — It is not easy to arrive at any 

 clear estimate of the fertiliser value of so mixed a material as 

 town refuse. Analysis alone does not afford sufficient informa- 

 tion, and field trials, which constitute the only reliable means, 

 are very slow. 



There is, however, a certain body of experience on the part 

 of farmers who have used town refuse on which one may usefully 

 draw for guidance. Broadly speaking, town refuse has given 

 successful results in two cases : — 



(a) On heavy-land farms or allotments, where it is used for 

 root crops, cabbages, etc. ; 



(b) For raising the level of low-lying wet ground and 

 forming new land which can be used for allotments. 

 Considerable quantities of town refuse have been used by 



farmers on the heavy London Clay soils of the Home Counties. 

 About 10 tons per acre is a usual dressing; it should be spread 

 before the winter ploughing begins so that it can be well worked 

 into the soil. It then lightens the stiff soil and facilitates culti- 

 vation generally, and good root and other crops are usually 



