166 
Use of Town Sewage as Manure. 
ance of manure, which is obtained at a very low cost and with 
little or no expense of carriage, being brought by the market- 
carts in their return journey. The market for sewage manure 
ought to be found in a wider zone. 1 feel persuaded that clieap 
manures — that is to say, manures of small value, at an equally 
small price — are a mistake, and every step that we take now is 
in the opposite direction, namely, in the concentration of ferti- 
lizing qualities. If, then, in the act of producing sewage manure 
in the solid state a low percentage of manuring ingredients is 
obtained — the great bulk of the manure being useless to vegeta- 
tion — such a result is a failure, not a success, however much of 
the manure may be produced. 
It may be asked, is there then no plan by which a solid ma- 
nure of sufficient value can be prepared from sewage ? My own 
conviction is that, as yet, no plan has been suggested which, 
with a due regard to the farmer's interests, unites the prospect 
of a paying speculation. Of course I speak now of a manufac- 
ture in which sewage is the staple law article. It is quite possi- 
ble to mix other matters, such as the refuse substances of large 
towns, with the solid deposit of sewage so as to make a good 
manure, at a fair or even a low price ; but in this the merit lies 
with the substances added, not with the sewage itself ; and 
such a manufacture is obviously very partial and limited in its 
application. 
It has always appeared to me that this question of sewage- 
water is regarded in a wrong light. A most exaggerated opinion 
of the prospects of manufacturing manure from it is entertained 
by local Boards of Health and town corporations. Not content 
with making arrangements by which the removal of the refuse 
and the cleansing of their watercourses is to be obtained, they 
in many cases stipulate for a rental for the right of taking the 
sewage matter. I do not doubt that if the liquid seicage could 
be properly distributed over the extent of surface which it is 
capable of fertilizing, a revenue would be forthcoming towards 
the reduction of the town-rates. But, in the absence of arrange- 
ments for liquid distribution, and unless we should discover 
some process far better than any we possess for the solidification 
of the sewage, I am convinced that the results must be all the 
other way : that is to say, the towns must be content to pay 
towards the operation, instead of looking to it as a source of 
income. The question is indeed a compound one — sanitary and 
agricultural. It is of the utmost importance to the town popula- 
tions to remove their refuse matter without polluting the neigh- 
bouring streams. By the aid of existing processes this object 
can be satisfactorily accomplished ; and the water supplied to a 
town may be restored to the watercourses in a comparatively 
