686 



Town Refuse as Manure. 



[Nov., 



obtained. Farmers round some of the larger Scottish towns, 

 e.g., Glasgow, Dundee, Perth, and Aberdeen, use considerable 

 amounts, probably even more than those round London. Un- 

 crushed refuse is sold from Dundee, where the demand is 

 stated to be greater than the supply : the 1921 deliveries are 

 said to have been 39,000 tons. An important factor that greatly 

 helps the consumption of this material in Scotland is that very 

 favourable railway rates are in operation. In England the 

 railway rates, generally speaking, are much higher than those 

 for stable manure, and so it comes about that up to the present 

 experience of this material is in the main limited to farmers 

 on heavy land in the immediate vicinity of towns. 



The amounts of ashpit refuse available over the country are 

 very large. It is estimated that no few«»r than 10,000,000 tons 

 per annum are produced in England and Wales, while in 

 London alone the production is estimated at 1,500,000 tons per 

 annum. The towns might afford to spend some money on 

 converting the material into fertiliser since at the present time 

 they spend something like £6, 000 ,000 per annum on collection 

 and disposal. 



Types and Composition of Refuse. — There are four types 

 of refuse sent out from towns : — 



1. " Dry refuse " : the contents of ashpits. 



2. Night soil : produced in towns where the pail system 

 is used. It is dried and granulated and contains some 5 \ per 

 cent, nitrogen, 5 J per cent, phosphates and 2 J per cent, 

 potash. 



3. " Mixed refuse," i.e., dry refuse plus night soil mixed in 

 certain proportions. A 50 per cent, mixture offered at Koch- 

 dale contains 2.9 per cent, nitrogen, 3.6 per cent, phosphates 

 (half being soluble and half insoluble) and 1.2 per cent, 

 potash. 



4. Street sweepings and other wastes. 



Of these the street sweepings and the unmixed night soils 

 are well known to farmers and are often easily disposed of. One 

 of the large London districts disposes of its street sweepings at 

 10s. per ton on the barge. Night soil in the dry form, unmixed 

 with ashes, is now sold by the Rochdale, Warrington and prob- 

 ably other corporations at a figure of about £7 per ton. If the 

 methods used in these places were generally applicable to town 

 and city conditions the problems arising out of the waste of 

 sewage would be solved and the shortage of organic manures 



