68 
Utilisation of Totvn Seioage. 
Commons last year ; but in a pamphlet since published by the 
former gentleman, giving the results of his experience for eight 
years as a sewage farmer, he states ' ' that he should expect a 
better paying return from 50 acres with 4500 tons per acre per 
annum, than from 100 acres with 2250 tons per acre." 
It seemed impossible to account for the abandonment, at Wat- 
ford and at Rugby, of the use of sewage to crops generally, and 
in comparatively small amounts per acre, after so large an outlay 
had been incurred, entirely with a view to its application in these 
very ways, excepting on the supposition that the practice was 
not found to be profitable ; and, to say nothing of evidence 
derived from other sources leading in the same direction in 
regard to the points in question, the Commission would hardly 
have been deemed justified in instituting experiments at Rugby 
in accordance with the plans originally adopted there on a more 
extensive scale than anywhere else, and abandoned, as unprofitable, 
after the experience of some years. It was, therefoi'e, decided to 
confine the experiments, at any rate in the first instance, to grass 
land ; to apply as a minimum as small a quantity of sewage as, 
having regard to the evidence at command, appeared likely to 
be effective ; and, to apply as a maximum an amount below the 
quantities known to be employed at Edinburgh with so much 
success. 
; Extracts from the Report of the Royal Sewage Commission. 
'* At Rugby the whole of the available sewage of the town is 
rented by G. H. Walker, Esq. ; and, after being collected in a 
large tank erected for the purpose, it is distributed, by means of 
a steam-engine, through iron pipes laid down for the supply to 
about 470 acres of mixed arable and grass land ; hydrants being 
fixed at intervals along the lines for surface distribution, either 
by hose or open runs. These arrangements were obviously well 
adapted for the purposes of the inquiry the Commission had in 
view. Experience, at Rugby as well as elsewhere, seemed clearly 
to indicate that, to obtain the largest amount and value of pro- 
duce at the least proportionate cost for distribution, dilute liquid 
sewage should be applied to the growth of succulent crops ; and 
that it is best adapted for grass. It was decided, therefore, to 
confine the experiments, at any rate at present, to grass land. 
Accordingly, the Commission availed themselves of the kindness 
of G. H. Walker and J. A. Campbell, Esqs., to operate upon 
about 15 acres of grass land in the neighbourhood of Rugby 
supplied with sewage as above described. 
" It also appears that produce of the kind in question is better 
adapted for the feeding of cows for the production of milk than 
