390 
Seioage-Farming. 
in the endeavour, at any cost to ourselves and risk to otliers, to 
tlnow it away. The sanitary engineer of that day — 
" Utilium tardus provisor, prodigus a^ris," 
thought lie had amply fulfilled his duty when the ordure and 
filth of our large towns, dispatched by the appliances of 
modern civilization down sink and sewer, were, by the friendly 
aid of summer storms and winter wet, swept into the neigh- 
bouring stream, to be lost indeed to sight, and therefore, according 
to the proverb, to be also dismissed from mind. 
Within the last few years, however, a great change has taken 
place in the public appreciation of this subject ; and the sewage 
question has attained such prominence that its discussion in 
these pages will certainly not need the apology with which I 
have small doubt that Mr. Mechi, and the early workers with 
him in so unfashionable a movement, were wont to preface their 
observations. 
Important as is the proper disposal of this filth and waste in 
a sanitary point of view, it is of scarcely less moment as an 
economic subject ; and I need hardly say that in these pages it 
should receive discussion mainly from the latter position. If much 
has been learned of late years with regard to it, there is still 
very much to be taught ; and it must be acknowledged that, 
whatever benefits are in store for agriculture from an observance 
of the scientific laws which ought to govern the utilization of 
sewage, farmers, as a class, have hitherto hardly appreciated 
the significance, of the subject, or devoted enough attention to 
its varied aspects. Forced upon towns, as it has been, by the 
exigencies of modern society, it is no wonder that urban autho- 
rities should be the first to attempt to obtain pecuniary return from 
the circumstances which compelled them to become, in many 
instances, the unwilling owners or occupiers of considerable tracts 
of land ; but it will reflect no credit upon the professional tillers of 
the soil if the experience and knowledge which costly trials of 
public bodies have afforded should bear no fruit for them, and if 
new systems of the utmost importance in modern agriculture 
should be developed without their aid. 
Sewage has been defined by Professor Way as " water holding 
in solution or suspension ingredients which do not belong to it 
as water, and which render it objectionable to the senses of sight 
and smell, injurious to health, and unfit for drinking and do- 
mestic purposes." In this paper I would rather regard it in the 
less comprehensive light adopted by the Sewage Committee of 
the British Association, as " any refuse from human habitations 
Avhich may affect the public health." It is plain that the latter 
definition succinctly describes the matters with which we have to 
