Sewage-Farming. 
407 
a sewage-farm. Suffice it to say that any ordinary farm-crop can 
with certainty be grown, and that garden products will revel in 
the congenial richness and moisture of the land. This latter 
description of produce will undoubtedly yield far larger returns 
than any farm-crop, provided a satisfactory market can be 
found ; but except in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, or 
any very large towns, it may be questioned whether the market- 
garden branch of the farmer's business will not be the most 
hazardous, and whether it will in all cases prove so remunera- 
tive as some sanguine persons have led us to believe. It is plain 
that the easy access to some rather populous place, which he 
will in most cases enjoy, the considerable rent and other charges 
upon his land, and the superiority of his produce in this depart- 
ment, will all tend to induce him to cultivate some considerable 
portion of his farm with crops of this description ; but it is also 
evident that the cultivation of 400 or 500 acres as market-garden 
would be completely out of the question, if dependence must be 
placed upon such consumption as a town of 20,000 or 25,000 
inhabitants would afford. The addition of such an area to the 
land already tilled for this purpose would swamp the market. 
When sewage-farming is better understood market-gardeners 
may be eager each to occupy his plot upon the farm, but in 
the mean time, with a large area of land under sewage, and a 
limited demand for such produce, other crops which are in 
greater request must continue to be grown. The growth of 
cereals and of roots, &c., must not therefore be discouraged, for 
in these the sewage-farmer will find his most certain market, 
though not his most remunerative return. I shall proceed to 
discuss the claims of a few of these crops to his consideration, 
Italian Rge-grass, — This plant has hitherto deservedly enjoyed 
a foremost place on all sewage-farms. There is none better 
adapted for the cleansing of sewage, and this, with its easy culti- 
vation and immense yield, makes it one of the most reliable and 
valuable of any crop upon the list. From 40 to 50 tons per acre 
can with certainty be produced in 14 months from a well laid 
down and well managed plot of this grass. It should be drilled 
in August or September, receive a light sewaging, and be cut 
once during the autumn, and, under favourable circumstances, it 
will bear five, six, or seven cuttings during the next season ; after 
which, in most cases, it will be better to break it up. Until 
recently, it was almost invariably allowed to remain down two 
years, under the impression that, as a perennial, it should stand 
at least that time without exhaustion, I believe that nearly 
all sewage-farmers have now agreed that one year is all that 
it is safe to reckon upon for a full crop. On a number of 
farms which I visited during the spring of the present year, I 
